Slam+Poetry

Miracle Workers- Taylor Mali

media type="youtube" key="9vMHSGmGtuo?fs=1" height="385" width="480" The poem "Miracle Workers" by Taylor Mali, is a poem examining the work of a teacher. He says, that by being a teacher, he is like a neutral force, "I’m not your mother, or your father, or your jailer, or your torturer, or your biggest fan in the whole wide world even if sometimes I am all of these things." One infers from this statement that no one else but a teacher or a miracle worker can be completely neutral as well as being so opinionated. When young kids fight, it is very hard to break up the fights, the disagreement in between the children makes them unable to listen to reason, or any kind of words. But the job of a teacher or a "miracle worker" is one that warrants such abilities. Mali says that a teacher must know how to deal with boy fights and girl fights. Boy fights, he says are easily broken up, while girl fights must be waited out and then dragged to the nurses office. Teachers and miracle workers alike must know exactly how to solve different problems, by subtle means. In the central section of his poem, he talks about impossibilities. Phrases such as 78th grade, 55 paragraph essays, and April 300th come to mind. These words might me meant as a metaphor for the impossibilities of some problems. Things that teachers and miracle workers even cannot solve. By exploring these impossibilities, he exposes the human-ness of the teacher and the worker of miracles. Though those who work miracles can do extraordinary things, it is yet impossible to graduate from 78th grade on the 300 of April. Mali finishes his poem by saying: " Education is the miracle, I’m just the worker. But I’m a teacher. And that’s what we do." This final statement shines light upon the fact that those who work miracles exist because there is a miracle waiting to be worked, and they are there, looking for the opportunity.

While browsing through the Youtube results on Taylor Mali, this was the first to really catch my eye. The opening paragraph that compared sleep to a late student was humorous and hooking, making me want to listen to the rest of the poem.