Outreach Techniques Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Some do make attempts,
To commit and get involved.
They attend protest rallies.
Local community meetings.
And with others discuss,
What it is they could do...
To keep their children,
From being lured...
Innocently into wayward,
And inappropriate activities...
Increasing with ease,
On neighborhood urban streets.
Declaring repeatedly...
It's better schools they need.
And, of course...
Trained and qualified teachers,
Capable with abilities...
To do it all.

Babysit to then discipline.
And protect their children,
As if police.
Speak calmly to heated parents,
They only see...
When their children,
Have cursed out the principal.
And from school,
Have been dispelled.

And...
There are those,
Who had at one time...
Many years ago,
Had volunteered their expertise
To freely give but told...
What they offered,
Was too eclectic.
And not standardized enough,
To meet demands.
Stabilized.
Without that other fluff stuff.

And heard from those,
Proving...
They've been 'authorized',
To modernize the times.
Are comments made,
Of essentials needed...
That will advance to catch up,
Minds vacant.
Without a single thought,
To recognize.
Or one to find.

'We did not then know,
How rapidly the future...
Would speed upon us.
To acknowledge,
We've been blinded.
And left as if orphans.
Totally unprepared.

We need those amongst us,
Already known...
To have been shunned.
To return and unify,
Their efforts to endeavor.
Misunderstood,
When they then back when...
We thought them to be stupid.
And their ideas dumb.'

-We've already approached them.
And unselfishly they shared,
Their latest outreach,
Techniques.-

'To forgive is wonderful.
Tell us...
Just what it was they shared? '

-They handcuffed one wrist,
To chain it to an open door.
While stretching to extend,
The other hand.
To then say to us,
They've been exploring...
Outreach techniques.
As a possibility,
What they've discovered...
Would be of benefit,
To a community they so love.-