National Adult Literacy Database

November 19, 2001

The following poem was written by Derrick Tizzard, from St. John's, Newfoundland. Derrick loves writing. He says it is great to be alive to put your thoughts and feelings on paper. He could not read stories to his two children when they were small. He could only tell them stories that he made up. Derrick decided to go back school at Rabbittown Learners Program, so he could read and write. His main goal is to improve his education as well has his overall quality of life. So far he is making great strides towards his goal. Derrick is currently writing stories which he hopes to have published in the near future.

Read me this book, Sir, please

by Derrick Tizzard

Illiteracy is a person who looks in the mirror in the morning and sees no face.
Shame sets in, denial takes over,
sends him into the down and out spin of depression.
He hangs his head, makes up excuses,
Imagine thousands and thousands each day of the year who look in a book
to see only thick black lines, spaces, words, white pages, that have no meaning,
thousands with no purpose to their being.

A child confronts him : "Read me this book, Sir, please."
He is lost for words; he stumbles and mumbles.
He grasps the child's hand, leads her to her toy box.
He sits back in his chair, squeezes the book buckling its cover;
can't handle it no more, decides to take a step in the right direction.
He remembers the newscast of the night before about this place,
the Learner's Place. Unsure, nervous, afraid of failing,
he walks in, butterflies in his stomach, speaks low, sees nothing around him,
like a small boy on his first day of school, takes the application form.
The name is okay, the street address is okay, and the social insurance number,
But how to write the name of the city, the name of the province ?
He is about to leave when he hears a whisper :
"Read me this book, Sir, please."

He doesn't waste his time, tutors buzz around like bees,
teach the sound and power of words.
He reads wonderful stories and poems.
On thee dictionary, a book with many marvelous words.
to guide his learning; Like desire, He finds its meaning in the book,
something desired, to achieve his or her heart's desire.
To be a writer of words, you must have the true knowledge of the Words.
People gaze in awe, find themselves
intertwined in the stories of fiction as one.
The wonder of the universe, words amaze,
guide us in the world to freedom from illiteracy.

[This poem was taken from First-Time Readers, published by the Literacy Development Council of Newfoundland and Labrador, October 2001.]