Research Progress

Here is a draft of my multigenre effort. It still needs significant work.


Left Behind

The dark silence of my self-induced cave surrounds and shrouds my broken form
on the eve of the sixth coming of a false savior with my commiserating companion Jameson and unwelcome reminders of ineptitude and cowardice.
Pensive and preoccupied with the realization that we have failed our greatest asset;
that I had neglected those in my charge.
I look upon the gleeful toothless grins of ghosts in glossy life-like texture of
Anita, Katherine, Lena, Hector, Janelle, Alexis, Miguel, Tyrone, Jorge, Ranada…
The faces and names are an endless procession of past classes,
oblivious in their inherent innocence and unconditional trust that discerning, educated and benevolent adults entrusted to educate them had their best interests in mind.
Would they be smiling if they knew what awaited them?
Would they be smiling if they knew what we had wrought?
Would they be smiling if they knew what we had conspired to do to them with our silence?
The pangs of conscience reverberate as they did the day the prophetic voice of "reason" forecast their inevitable demise promising greater accountability and education through testing without the problematic racial and socio-demographic divide.
The illuminating screech of obdurate logic and reason rebelled against this false prophet.
Reverberating in my brain and resonating in my subconscious until I couldn't focus on the blissful blind exuberance and unfulfilled promise in my students and I was -
acutely aware of the beautiful innate differences that we possess,
cognizant of the dangers of ethnocentrism,
mindful of the socio-demographic dynamic and its impact,
marked by the realization of the ramifications of failure due to underfunding.
Nonetheless, I stood mute, blind to my own betrayal and remiss in my obligations.
Years have passed and the carefree spirits haunt me daily
and starting tomorrow, my complicit silence will welcome a new class of jubilant apparitions.