Sentence Fragments and Broken Language
by Nathanael Larochette

In the past 16 years
More students have referred to me
As “The Poet Guy” than I’m able to remember

Ever since leaving my last real job dishwashing
I’ve found myself face to face with classrooms
Cafeterias, gymnasiums and school assemblies
Full of wide-eyed teenagers, eager keeners
Jocks, nerds, bullies and the bullied
Immigrants, refugees, broken home survivors
Youth who’ve seen more hardships than most in a lifetime
And more cell phones than you can shake an apple at

For the past 16 years
This has been the battlefield
And the war for impressionable minds
Has never seen so many casualties

So when faced with the glamourous task
Of reminding youth why literacy
And self-expression are cool
I never thought I would last
But somehow I have

In the midst of all the madness, greed, violence and lies
There are students sitting in schools across the world
Downloading all of this information

Told in class to pay attention a little bit
While watching the world unravel
At their fingertips

This is where I’ve found myself

Partly by accident
Partly on purpose
Scraping my insides
For poetic reminders
Why life is still worth it

So I tell them to write

To carve their hearts into the page
Building a refuge out of sentence fragments and broken language
A shelter from anything and anyone claiming it’ll crumble eventually

I give them those clichéd bits of advice
We all know are true but were never taught how to live
So I remind them our stories make us real
That simply speaking your meaning with feeling
Is key to weaving your dreams into being

And with every dancing pen
Every typed and titled
Testament to tired truth
Every petrified performer
Every collective classroom
Sigh, snap, and cheer of support
I witness what happens when the gifts we use
Move to the tune of the fear that we lose
When our doubts are drowned out
By the cheers in the room

All we really have to teach are the lessons we greet
Somewhere in between our sunken spirits and older fears
That which we’ve constantly stumbled over the years

When I step into classrooms, cafeterias
Gymnasiums and school assemblies
It’s my professional obligation
To be one telling them it’s safe to be
That I won’t judge them as harshly
As I’ve judged my dreams

But when I look into the eyes of the students I teach
They become that person for me

Nathanael Larochette is the 2023 recipient of the Prix des artistes éducateurs de la Fondation des arts de l’Ontario.