I’m writing the poem that will change the world, and it’s Lilly Wilson at my office door.
Lilly Wilson, the recovering like addict,
the worst I’ve ever seen.
So, like, bad the whole eighth grade
started calling her Like Lilly Like Wilson Like.
‘Until I declared my classroom a Like‐Free Zone,
and she could not speak for days.
But when she finally did, it was to say,
Mr. Mali, this is . . . so hard.
Now I have to think before I . . . say anything.
Imagine that, Lilly.
It’s for your own good.
Even if you don’t like . . .
it.
I’m writing the poem that will change the world,
and it’s Lilly Wilson at my office door.
Lilly is writing a research paper for me
about how homosexuals shouldn’t be allowed
to adopt children.
I’m writing the poem that will change the world,
and it’s Like Lilly Like Wilson at my office door.
She’s having trouble finding sources,
which is to say, ones that back her up.
They all argue in favor of what I thought I was against.
And it took four years of college,
three years of graduate school,
and every incidental teaching experience I have ever had
to let out only,
Well, that’s a real interesting problem, Lilly.
But what do you propose to do about it?
That’s what I want to know.
And the eighth-‐grade mind is a beautiful thing;
Like a new-‐born baby’s face, you can often see it
change before your very eyes.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, Mr. Mali,
but I think I’d like to switch sides.
And I want to tell her to do more than just believe it,
but to enjoy it!
That changing your mind is one of the best ways
of finding out whether or not you still have one.
Or even that minds are like parachutes,
that it doesn’t matter what you pack
them with so long as they open
at the right time.
O God, Lilly, I want to say
you make me feel like a teacher,
and who could ask to feel more than that?
I want to say all this but manage only,
Lilly, I am like so impressed with you!
So I finally taught somebody something,
namely, how to change her mind.
And learned in the process that if I ever change the world
it’s going to be one eighth grader at a time.
Mali. Taylor. “Like Lilly Like Wilson.” What Learning Leaves. Newtown, CT: Hanover Press, 2002. Print. (ISBN: 1-‐887012-‐17-‐6)