Teach Me in the Key of Life

My sweet friend Amy went to a Pre-K Conference in NYC last week, and shared this poem with me when she got back.  I LOVED it, and thought you would, too.  Thank you, Amy, for sharing this- and thank you, Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld for writing such truth from a child's eye.

Teach Me in the Key of Life
by Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld

I am waiting for you
I have been waiting all my life to spend this time with you.
I am full of questions, adventures, wonder, curiousity, imagination.
I am full of fears, doubts, confusions, nightmares, dreams.
I am the Cowardly Lion. I need a badge for courage.
So do you.
I am the Tin Man. So tight. I forgot about my heart.
How’s your heart?
I am the Scarecrow. Hangin’ so loose my brain feels unhinged.
Does yours?
Sometimes I’mGrumpy, Sleepy, Dopey, Bashful, Doc, Sneezy, Happy.
Sometimes I’m seven new dwarfs as yet unnamed.
I love to sing.
I know the words to 2,437 songs.
Teach me through songs.
Let me paint, doodle, scribble, draw, carve, fix, sketch – DO.
I can’t keep still.
I’m a spaced-out, far-out, Star Wars, Superman IV, rock ‘n’ roll, disco, punk, psychedelic, tuned-out, right-on, cool age,  electronic, stereo, video games, computerized, technicolor, ten-speed kid!
I need action!
Keep it moving!
I love to read baseball cards, album covers, TV schedules, movie ads, license plates, T-shirts, buttons, posters, cartoons, cereal boxes, recipes, highway signs, historical markers, magazines, picture books,
sad stories, weird poems, animal histories, lost-and-found boards…
Let me ask my questions – even if you don’t know the answers.
Dumb questions, like who started numbers?
Do caterpillars know they’re going to turn into butterflies?
Where does the white go when the snow melts?
Why does time fly?
How do we see?
What do you see?
It’s not my birthday, but every day can’t we celebrate SOMETHING?
Colors, seasons, Tuesdays, Mexico, circles, houses, maps, our names, numbers, one seed, our journals, favorite books, inventions, rivers, peace!
Can we celebrate our country on the fourth of October or the twelfth of May?
We don’t have school on the fourth of July!
Every day let’s celebrate SOMETHING!
Life – the wonder and power and miracle of Life – of being here, learning together, with all our fantastic powers.
Surprise me.
Amaze me.
Startle me.
Challenge me.
Try me.
Laugh with me.
Love me.
Teach me
in “the key of life,”
and I promise I’ll surprise, amaze, startle, challenge, try, enjoy and love YOU!

 

Have a WONDERFUL week!