Imagine

Poem about dyslexia and how we should count ourselves lucky that we are able to read and write

 

Imagine

 

Not being able to write

Are you ready?

Do you have a pen?

Yes, but not quite …

 

All the people

You know them

Seemingly

But, not quite

 

In this day and age

Schools are everywhere

But, not quite

For everyone knows

 

Little John

Attending school

Climbing a hill

Everyday, made out

Of letters, everyday

The same portion of

Alphabet soup

 

Many thoughts linger

Through his mind

He cannot write them down

Convinced he is

The only one

Left behind

 

To remember by heart

After all the lessons

He has learnt

Passing his exams

His diploma shining

On the wall

Unprepared

For the fall

 

Into the real world

 

 

Reviews

[Kees Kapteyn]

There was this band that I used to be into called hHead. They have a few songs off their Jerk album which is about school and all its issues. One song in particular discussing learning disabilities is "Remedial".

Welcome to the special ed
Get your education spoon fed
Now I think that I suck
C'mon you've got to take me out

I met the singer for the band at a benefit concert and talked with him about the song and his point was that the focus is all wrong- that we should not make every student completely well rounded and perfect, rather we should focus on their strengths and build their own individual potentials. The system does just what the end of this poem suggest, racks them up for failure in the real world because it hadn't taught them any true skills that they had built up to secure their futures with.

[Poeticpiers]

so very true there is a great difference between intelligence and education I have met uneducated people who are wise and others with multiple degrees who little or no common sene

[Danielle Khairallah]

I was helping an eight-year old girl with her homework once, and she was driving me crazy! I thought in the back of my head, after a while, that she may be dyslexic, because I've learned about these cases in university. So i decided to stay with her longer, and see how she copies from the book, writes and reads, and I when I confirmed it, I asked her teacher. It turned out she really is dyslexic! After this short but important experience, I learned how truly hard it is for dyslexic children to advance academically without professional help and constant attention from the adults in charge of them.

I like this poem a lot because it really helps other people see this learning disability from a new point of view, that of the child who is dyslexic. It also gives hope that these kids can eventually surpass their disability. Well done and well imagined!

[Gandré]

http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/alternative_be/291529/

ha ha ...

i wondered.
what happened, the poem is here posted twice. did you know? it happens to me when browser to slow or not enough RAM....

check on it.. there is my review. you wanted me to read, so I did. smile be well. gandr�

[Gandré]

I don't know... but I reviewed this poem few hours ago.. a person asked me to review it. are you this person and you changed avatar and nick name? how ever, I wrote a long review on the same poem. check it out. hope ur well.

[holly]

There is hope though. My daughter has dyslexia, had it in the 70's before diagnosis of the condition was common. We had no idea why she couldn't spell or read things exactly the way they were on paper. Today, she is an xray technican and writes reports, knows how to spell everything and only gets mixed up when she's really tired. Hers was a terrific struggle but she didn't conquer it. Thank you for writing about this little understood topic!