Teachers make students memorable.

The first and only teacher

To give me a nickname: Tiger.

Laughable, I was all of 5 foot two,

Cowering in the back of his class.

 

He said when I had an idea I would  hold

Onto it, chew it to pieces.

That was bullshit.

He just made that up, because he wanted me

To have a name I could grow into.

 

The rest of the class felt the irony.

Someone said, “I agree with what Tiger– I mean Bill– said,”

and then looked a little sheepish, as if it was derogatory         .

Mr. Davis meant it to make me feel more powerful.

 

No teacher made me feel like what I thought was pure gold,

made me look back on my early drafts wondering

what was so magnificent

made me want to do what he did some day,

Made me memorable.

 

He was long retired when I wrote to him

Jogging his memory hopefully,

“The moment your name was mentioned to me,

I saw you, wavy hair, glasses, wry smile

glide into our classroom for the day’s fun.”

 

What more could a student ask

Than to be memorable?