Subtle Part of the Forest

/ boz bozeman

I’m posting this as part of Open Link Night at DVerse

Boz Bozeman

In his story,
My student wrote:
“our parents decided to move to a more suttle part of the forest.”

Yes, he misspelled the word. 
And he was misusing it even if he spelled it right.

But I'm not taking points off.

Because now I want to move
To a more subtle part of the forest.
 
A place off the path,
But just off the path,
A place that everyone passes 
But not everyone sees.

A clearing bounded 
by pine needles and leaves.
Within, giving loamy earth.
The air
is the mingling scents of green. 

Sun light rays down 
Defining trees
Giving them their shadows.
Forest dust shapes the sun shafts
that shooting-star bugs plunge through.

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15 thoughts on “Subtle Part of the Forest”

  2. Teaching writing instructs clarity and color to one’s own, doesn’t it? And one writer’s misspelling spells wide another’s door where error is seen though a subtle lens. I wonder what it’s like to teach writing these days, when English is a second language for all.

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    • You’d be surprised at the range of abilities. Some students come to seventh grade with skills that a high schooler could have. Others write fine, but need instruction on how to make a strong argument, support it and clearly explain it. Of course, there are those who need significant help, but that’s why I a job.

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  3. Sounds like a most interesting place your student depicts here Mark! 🙂 I invite you to come read my OLN offering tonight on my site — and to experience my wife Kathy’s profound love affair with nature, which is currently hampered by her newly discovered cancer. She goes into the UW Fred Hutch Cancer Center April 22nd for a multi-hour regimen of robotics surgery on her neck and throat area. Post Op will put her in ICU for Four days. Please keep Kathy, my love, in your thoughts. Thank you… ✌🏼🕊🫶🏼❣️

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  5. It would appear that your student already has the makings of a great writer… the ability to lift and transport his reader to another place. Spelling. Schmelling. I love the environment his words inspired (it feels very familiar).

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