A Little (Twitter-Inspired) Sonnet
Monday, 18 February 2008 Clay Burell 
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Silly Twitter Sonnet
I tweeted to my twitterverse last week
From high up on a twig on my lone tree.
From that frail height I sang of what I seek:
A future free of grinding schooletry.
I sang of learning far beyond the walls
of bricked-in class, and space, and time, and age;
and students heeding all creative calls
that cried to them from their own chosen page.
An echo back from that lone song I heard
from fledglings, faint from some barred far-off cage:
“We hear you, and would fly there in a word,
Were we but free to heed our inner sage.”
A bell rang then, and my frail twig gave way,
And down I plunged, to just another day.
–
I signed the contract for one more year, but in a new position: 21st Century Learning/Tech Coordinator. We’ll see how that goes.
- “So Off I Flew to Seek a Newer Land” – Notes Beyond Schoolteaching
- On the Uses and ‘Abuses’ of Twitter (or, “Digital Gymnastics”)
- Wedding Songbirds: On the Humanity of Twitter
- Open Thread: What Do We Mean by “Self-Promotion” on Twitter?
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No. 1 — February 18th, 2008 at 5:47 am
“I signed the contract for one more year, but in a new position: 21st Century Learning/Tech Coordinator. We’ll see how that goes.”
This is why you are featured on Faces of Web 2.0 ★ 21st Century Teachers
Congratulations (on the job, not on being profiled in my blog, haha)
-Frank
Frank’s last blog post..Excuse us while we calibrate the Vertigo theme by Brian Gardner
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No. 2 — February 18th, 2008 at 6:18 am
Are Twitter sonnets allowed to be over 140 characters? ; )
21st Century Learning/Tech Coordinator… I love the idea that such a title can finally exist! I’m sure you’ll set the bar high for those who may follow…
Rodd Lucier’s last blog post..A Tipping Point?
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No. 3 — February 18th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Or, in another universe:
So off I flew to seek a newer land
That hope and dream and promise ably spanned.
diane
diane’s last blog post..My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
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No. 4 — February 18th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Hope this year would be a good one. I have also recently committed for another year at my work after a lot of thought pro and cons. Part of my wanted to change but I feel it is too soon and I still have a lot to do and learn so I had to continue and see where can I go in this line of work.
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No. 5 — February 19th, 2008 at 4:34 am
[...] can see it here: http://beyond-school.org/2008/02/18/silly-twitter-sonnet-14-lines-of-bathos/#comment-2174 Posted 23 seconds ago [...]
No. 6 — February 19th, 2008 at 9:24 am
What’s this? Unexpected, an unschooly sonnet:
An avian metaphor that takes flight on wings
of Clay. Under his vocational bonnet?
Bees existential—of being he sings.
And teaching and learning. Lest we forget, he
Has been dubbed radical, a rebel with edge,
By no less an authority than Dean Shareski.
Reminds me of another flyboy, a fully-fledged
Professional skeptic and status quo challenger
Whose branch also broke, whose hopes almost died.
Is paradise lost? Just deferred? Where’s Salinger’s
Catcher? He’s waiting, no doubt, in a field full of wry.
Beyond reach, your school vision may glimmer afar.
But like Lucifer, you’ll do a hell of a job where you are.
Scott Schwister’s last blog post..twitku tuesday: the sweetheart edition
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No. 7 — February 19th, 2008 at 9:33 am
With feet he yearns to soar o’erhead
But sighing, wingless trudges on instead.
diane’s last blog post..Unsuited to Age Group
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No. 8 — February 19th, 2008 at 9:34 am
With feet of Clay he yearns to soar o’erhead
But sighing, wingless, trudges on instead.
diane’s last blog post..Unsuited to Age Group
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No. 9 — February 19th, 2008 at 10:37 am
@Scott: “forget he / …Shareski” / – the rhyme scheme / slays me.
Thanks for brightening my day. Too fun.
Clay Burell’s last blog post..Silly Twitter Sonnet: 14 Lines of Bathos
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No. 10 — February 19th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
You guys are whacked.
Dean Shareski’s last blog post..Why Flickr and Alan Levine Rock
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No. 11 — February 19th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
The critic slams our humble lyric tries
With comments harsh – yet fails to still our cries.
diane’s last blog post..Unsuited to Age Group
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No. 12 — February 19th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Diane, you’ve got a great ear for the iambic pentameter. Well done!
(Though I churned this sonnet out in literally about 10 minutes, it is, weirdly, my first sonnet. Weird because I’ve finally internalized iambic pentameter where I can speak it spontaneously. Who says teaching poetry and literature has no practical value? I can spout doggerel now without effort!)
(Honestly? I’m excited to have the sonnet form finally not just in my memory, but in my creative ability. Kind of cool to do that for the first time at 45.)
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No. 13 — February 28th, 2008 at 7:25 am
[...] Picture url: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49503019876@N01/1824234195 thanks to luc legay. Quote from: beyond-school.org/2008/02/18/silly-twitter-sonnet-14-line… thanks to Clay [...]
No. 14 — July 8th, 2008 at 10:56 am
[...] the work-week, about simply having a plan in place before the year began. Readers of my post announcing that new job in the form of a little sonnet (forgive me, reader: the Humanities teacher in me wanted to [...]
No. 15 — April 2nd, 2009 at 11:53 am
[...] My social Network on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and MyblogLog thanks to luc legay. Quote from: Silly Twitter Sonnet: 14 Lines of Bathos thanks [...]
No. 16 — June 17th, 2009 at 8:15 am
[...] Silly Twitter Sonnet: 14 Lines of Bathos by Clay Burell. This sonnet is featured in the photograph on the top of the page. [...]