Statement of Teaching Philosophy

Keith Leonard
| poetry

 

The standards call for a lesson
on the afterlife of each religion.
The students want to know what I believe in.
The priests dried the king’s body
with a gold scarab neatly tucked
above the heart. This protected the king
from having to tell the truth.
We write obituaries for fictional characters.
I note those who did not choose cartoons,
while we watch a film heavily edited
with white and yellow light.

Keith Leonard is the author of the poetry collection Ramshackle Ode (Mainer/Ecco, 2016). His poems have appeared recently or are forthcoming in The Believer, New England Review, Ploughshares, and elsewhere. Keith has received fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, and the Ohio Arts Council.

Next
Statement of Teaching Philosophy
Previous
Differentiation