Adolescent Heartbeats

My dry erase expo marker is a baton

Students scrape their chairs against a scrappy floor

And I hear the soft tuning note of a violin

Unison, unity, attention as one

“Teach me,” some say

And I hear the collective choir hum

“This is stupid,” some say

And I hear a bow clatter to the ground

What can I possibly do with this

White expo marker, erasable baton

Use-my-words-as-a-vehicle-for-your-success?

I lead this orchestra, this classroom,

This heaving, pregnant necessity of knowledge

With a paralyzing fear to give the first downbeat

“Teach me,” some say

And my hands trill

Connect these universal concepts of

Pain and confusion and anger and standards,

Protocol, conformity, doubt, shame, society,

Understanding that we feel pain,

We can hear each other’s pain

Through these melodic chords of melodic discourse

Connect across boundaries and time signatures,

Breathe deep from your insides and dive in

“Teach me,” some say

And I tap against the text, their memories,

Our collective capture of catapulting passion

And we breathe as one ensemble,

Producing music from our understanding,

Our universal pain, our universal moments

Of ethereal realizations

Of knowing that just as an orchestra beats,

Our classroom beats as one.