The Empty Page Poem by billy vincent berman

A teacher looked down at a small boy and said
Billy, your page is empty
The boy looked up at the teacher and said
No its not.
You don't know the story this page is telling
A tree died to make this page
this empty page tells me it is bleached to make it white
and has blue lines.
This page tells me i recognise colours
This page tells me I can hear as I turn the pages
This page tells me I listened to you in geometry class
I know this page is not a square a rectangle or a circle.
This page tells me i can count
there are forty blue lines containing a story yet untold
to come alive with imaginings and learning
that may be forgotten.
But what I will write on this page is a part of my learning
and understanding that a small boy knew
there is no such thing as an empty page.
I may fail the test on this page but there is no guarantee
I will fail the test of life.
As I hand you this page it may look childlike in it's writing
This empty page may become one day more pages with
the mastery of penmanship beyond even your imaginings.
I'm sorry teacher there must be something said,
maybe it is you who has a book
with empty pages in your head.

Billy Vincent Berman 2015