Secret Connoisseur of Stickers

I love when I can have a piece of writing serve more than one purpose.  

This past month I have been spending much of my writing energy -- at least the writing energy that isn't dedicated to noveling -- on poetry.  After all, it IS national poetry month.  Most of my poetry writing has been inspired by the daily prompts over at Ethical ELA.  Today's prompt (using the idea of "secret connoisseurs") not only captures a slice of one of my favorite classroom habits, but also just one of my favorite things in general: stickers.

"To My High School Student Sticker Collectors"
The sheets slipped out of my desk:
fishes and phrases
plants and platitudes
a veritable menagerie of mayhem
that on a whim I will bestow.
Each mark, stamp, and sticker
a sign signifying my secret:
you were in my class,
you were my student,
you were in need
of a sticker to be let loose
on the world.

Perhaps it began with an errant star
shiny, glittery foil perched neatly 
beside the accompanying 'A.'
Or else it began with a shifting mood
watery, anxiety clear as day
I unfurl a streamer and ask:
"Which one would you like?"

Slapped on shirts,
affixed to appliances,
or bound to books
each one labels clear
the connoisseur of stickers.
And though they peel
or fade or eclipse,
there are enough to share.
"Do you want a sticker?"