"Hear my words that I might teach you"

The notion that rock lyrics could be considered poetry seemed absurd to me at age 15. Considering that the music of that era was driven more by how the song would play as a video than how it actually sounded, I guess that wasn't too surprising. But in my sophomore English class, my teacher, Mr. Clark, had other ideas.

Between the non-stop practicing of core sentences and in-depth discussion of Ethan Frome, we also began, in that class,to try and decipher poetry. Wrapping our teenage brains around John Donne and Dylan Thomas proved to bea daunting challenge. Maybe that's why Mr. Clark also included a discussion about "The Sound Of Silence" in our curriculum.

It never dawned on me that the music that I loved could have any deeper meaning than what I found right on the surface. But, with the help of Mr. Clark, I could see how Paul Simon's seemingly abstract lyrics were actually a warning about the dangers of a complacent society in troubling times. (Give Mr. Clark credit for being critical where it was warranted as well; I remember that he thought that the lines where Simon offered his arms and words to the crowd were a bit pompous.)

I can see where this in-class discussion led to my appreciation of rock lyrics and my love of great lyricists like Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello. It also indirectly led to my love of poetry, since it never seemed so daunting after that. Sadly, just a yearlater, Mr. Clark passed away at a ridiculously young age, a victim of cancer.

Great teachers are very rare, and I consider myself very lucky Mr. Clark opened my mind. I hope he knows how much he reached me.