Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
Today we revisit Friends of the Doctrine, jenne and ceayr over at their bloghop, the Unicorn Challenge. The way it works is this: there is a photo provided, new for the week. All are invited to write a story, one of no more than two hundred-fity words that involve/relate-to/jeez-don’t-ask the aforementioned photo.
Prompt photo:
*
“…a World in a Grain of Sand.”
Miss Emily M. Haighdeann read the line with the bold trepidation commonly heard shoring up a day’s end in most new relationships, ‘I’ve had a lovely evening‘.
Standing at the front of the class, she felt an urge to close her eyes and follow the call of the poem to a place that was not a Sixth grade classroom and a time not the miraculously still painful present.
“But, but! Miss Haighdeann!” With the enthusiasm of a shipwreck survivor discovering the link between his sun-torn shirt and sails on the horizon, the boy in the back row, Seth, asked, “Is that like just one of them? One piece of sand? If it is, how could anyone find the right one?”
The eleven-year-old boy, viewed as gifted by some adults and weird by most of his classmates, usually spoke with the fluent mumble of most inwards-looking children. However, on the rare occasion something engaged his mind, he acquired a certain, tonic accent, his timbre compelling. On this particular afternoon in September, there was a presence to his voice that elevated his words above the miasma of disdain and sotto snarls of ‘what a nerd’.
With the logic of leaving Blake out of this year’s lesson plan lurking in the corner, the sixth grade teacher applied a smile to her face, ‘This is what poetry is for, Seth. To encourage us to see a distant shore and believe we know its people.”
About clarkscottroger
Poor Miss Emily M. Haighdeann.
Seth is every teacher’s nightmare – except, on the rare occasions, when he’s their blessing.
‘…the link between his sun-torn shirt and sails on the horizon’ – my favourite among your many excellent images.
PS Lets me see why I rapidly changed my career choice away from teaching!
lol
could not imagine being a grade school teacher. fortunately I can remember being a grade school pupil
..”Joy & Woe are woven fine, A Clothing for the soul divine, Under every grief & pine
Runs a joy with silken twine” ..
Identification. Powerful. Significant in a child’s life, whether found directly through a teacher or through her/his choice of subject matter and subsequent discussion, it can provide a much needed spark of light in an otherwise dark forest. More poetically expressed in your 4th sentence.
Very enjoyable piece, Clark.
ty
A story in a grain of the sands of another time, clark, perhaps a time when you were ‘The eleven-year-old boy, viewed as gifted by some adults and weird by most of his classmates’. Can’t get the words ‘bold trepidation’ out of my head.
thank you D
Blake for 11-year olds seems ambitious to me. But a clever and sensitive piece of writing, Clark, even if your ‘teecher’ sounds surprisingly human.
yeah, I struggled with that (the grade level) problem is (and don’t tell anyone) is that to give life to storys I need to mind my own past and, for god knows what reason grades 3-6th shine the brightest (currently)
Seth reminds me of Bigger Girl.
Nicely done.
thankee Miz M