Skip to main content

Taylor Mali should be our Poet Laureate!

My brother-in-law, Ned, an extraordinary 5th grade teacher, introduced me to Taylor Mali - and I'd love to introduce him to you :-)

Taylor Mali is one of the most well-known poets to have emerged from the poetry slam movement and one of the few people in the world to have no job other than that of poet. Eloquent, accessible, passionate, and often downright hilarious, Mali studied drama in Oxford with members of The Royal Shakespeare Company and puts those skills of presentation to work in all his performances.

Mali is vocal advocate of teachers and the nobility of teaching, having himself spent nine years in the classroom teaching everything from English and history to math and S.A.T. test preparation. He has performed and lectured for teachers all over the world, and his New Teacher Project has a goal of creating 1,000 new teachers through "poetry, persuasion, and perseverance."

Here is his poem that made my day today - I hope it gives you a chuckle. After that- go check out his website for more!!

The the impotence of proofreading
By Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com

Has this ever happened to you?
You work very horde on a paper for English clash
And then get a very glow raid (like a D or even a D=)
and all because you are the word¹s liverwurst spoiler.
Proofreading your peppers is a matter of the the utmost impotence.

This is a problem that affects manly, manly students.
I myself was such a bed spiller once upon a term
that my English teacher in my sophomoric year,
Mrs. Myth, said I would never get into a good colleague.
And that¹s all I wanted, just to get into a good colleague.
Not just anal community colleague,
because I wouldn¹t be happy at anal community colleague.
I needed a place that would offer me intellectual simulation,
I really need to be challenged, challenged dentally.
I know this makes me sound like a stereo,
but I really wanted to go to an ivory legal collegue.
So I needed to improvement
or gone would be my dream of going to Harvard, Jail, or Prison
(in Prison, New Jersey).

So I got myself a spell checker
and figured I was on Sleazy Street.

But there are several missed aches
that a spell chukker can¹t can¹t catch catch.
For instant, if you accidentally leave a word
your spell exchequer won¹t put it in you.
And God for billing purposes only
you should have serial problems with Tori Spelling
your spell Chekhov might replace a word
with one you had absolutely no detention of using.
Because what do you want it to douch?
It only does what you tell it to douche.
You¹re the one with your hand on the mouth going clit, clit, clit.
It just goes to show you how embargo
one careless clit of the mouth can be.

Which reminds me of this one time during my Junior Mint.
The teacher read my entire paper on A Sale of Two Titties
out loud to all of my assmates.
I¹m not joking, I¹m totally cereal.
It was the most humidifying experience of my life,
being laughed at pubically.

So do yourself a flavor and follow these two Pisces of advice:
One: There is no prostitute for careful editing.
And three: When it comes to proofreading,
the red penis your friend.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Medicare for All should be our goal

" Under the greatest adversity there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others ." ~Dalai Lama And one of Montana's Methodist Ministers, Joan Uda, wrote an editorial for the Great Falls Tribune this week, asking essentially, What would God think of this? Here's a small excerpt: I'm startled by the frenzied opposition to health care reform. Are these good people Christians? Do they recall that Jesus will judge us not by how well we've kept our earnings for ourselves but by how we have cared for "the least of these"? Matthew 25:31-46. This is a matter of salvation. I don't believe God supports any particular solution for health care. But I do believe God wants everyone, even the least, included. And I believe Jesus Christ calls us to display our best Christian virtues in the debate on these issues. Here's George Lakoff's perspective on how language influences the discussion on Health Care policies this seas...

My Husband, My Hero

So, most of you know that Jon and I are "involved" in helping Obama win this very critical election..... Jon, with his gift of "soothing rhetoric" (as Stella calls it) has been canvassing and phone calling voters in Western Montana almost every day for the past month. But this morning, he had a once-in-a-lifetime experience. At her request, Jon drove a 63 year old woman to the courthouse, where she voted (for Obama) for the first time in her life!!! WHY did she want to vote now? Because this time, it was "important".

I Believe....

I Believe that birthing and raising children is a work of the soul, a challenge to the spirit, and a gift to the universe. that "God" is bigger than any religious group, 'true believer', or even the deepest thinking theologians and scientists can grasp. that we have more than one chance to 'get it right' -yes, that implies some variation of reincarnation. that there are always alternatives to war and conflict. in fairy tales, tall tales, and even 'urban legends' might contain kernels of truth. that the seasons remind us, subliminally at least, of the spiral and cycles of life. that my dogs are the best canines ever incarnated, and I am so happy that they have found me again and again....!! the 'best' years of my life are the ones I am living. that we should pray for, and work for, peace and hope and change every day of our lives. NOW is our opportunity to influence what is reaching towards us from the future. that LOVE always triumphs.