What do you want to do, they ask me?
I want to teach U.S History. I reply
Professor? They ask
No middle school
You know that doesn’t pay well is their last answer to me

Don’t they think I know that
I ask them the same question,
What do you want to do?
They reply: Lawyer, doctor, politician.
They give me answers underlined with dollar signs
They don’t know what their passion is so they
Peruse the merchandise, and look for the one with the biggest price tag,

In my school there are academies
Where you train in your future profession
Is it a wonder that everyone runs to the medical field
Because of the long line of zero’s on it’s room number
While they all sprinted, I casually walked to the one with the big fat zero on it’s doormat.

What do I want to do, what do I want to be?
I want to be a zero dollar teacher.
I want to be a broken gumball machine
With no need for shiny quarters, continually shoving out chewy spheres of knowledge
Spheres of joy, spheres of wisdom, spheres of truth.
I know I don’t make much green
But I’ll make a million smiles
I’ll be payed in laughter and gratitude.Which I’ll earn from the things I have taught, and have been taught to me. While you map out the brain as gray, I’ll be mapping out the U.S.A
And while you stare at frowning faces, I’m gonna look at thirty or so smiling faces
When you go home to your mansion to grumble on your throne of a couch
I’ll be in my cottage thinking of how blessed life can be,
I know I don’t get paid much.
Because I only cost
Zero dollars and zero point zero zero cents.

When I was 5 I wanted to be a doctor
Until I realized I cried every time I needed a shot
Winced when I saw someone fall
And wanted to ***** when I saw blood.

When I was 7 I wanted to be a veterinarian
Until I realized I was more connected to animals
Than I was to humans
And I cried every time my dog so much as limped.

When I was 10 I wanted to be a teacher
Until I realized I could never let my students go
And would be too concerned about what they’re going through
That I wouldn’t even know what to teach them.

When I was 13 I wanted to be a lawyer
Until I realized I shook every time something bad happened
And if I ****** at arguing with my brother
How could I argue for someone’s future?

When I was 15 I wanted to be a CEO
Until I realized people would have to know my name
And I’d have to tell them what to do
When I didn’t even know what I was doing.

When I was 17 I wanted to be an author
Until I realized I couldn’t even read my own work
Let alone let my family and friends read it
Let alone let strangers read it.

When I’m grown up
All I really want to be
Is so content with where I’m at
That I don’t need to look too far in the future.

When I grow up
I just want a roof over my head
A job I love
And a family that loves me.

When I grow up
I don’t care what I’m doing
Or where I am
As long as I’m happy.

She held your hand
Before I
He kiss your lips
And I the last
They took cherry loved heart
Over and over
And broke it apart

But my love
I do not mind
The times have come and gone after all

But blame me not
When I turn red
Mad with jealousy
When I wish constantly
I had been first
Hoping where they failed
In the beginning or the end
I would do better
To keep you where you truly deserve
Happy
And always loved

Ode to a Poet(writer)
I know you,
All alone
4am is when you feel most at home.
I feel you,
Blank page, full pen,
I see you,
Looking at a page waiting for a tale to unfold,
Behold!
When it starts, it flows,
I am you,
Hiding away, writing my pain,
Escaping reality,
Day to day,
We are art,
In the way we move,
We are the dreamer's and believer's
Pad and pen in hand til our dreams come true.
C. Tyler