by Sheila McCann / This week’s poem arrives with a wink and then quietly undoes you. Mrs. Nelson teaches the things no school ever taught — and Sheila McCann remembers the people in her own life who taught them.
What You Missed That Day You Were Absent from the Fourth Grade
by Brad Aaron Modlin
Mrs. Nelson explained how to stand still and listen
to the wind, how to find meaning in pumping gas,
how peeling potatoes can be a form of prayer. She took
questions on how not to feel lost in the dark
After lunch she distributed worksheets
that covered ways to remember your grandfather’s
Sheila’s Reflection
In my life, whenever I was faced with disappointment, grief, or injustice, I found myself thinking about what life lesson I had missed. The life lesson that would help me get through my frustration, despair and anger. Why didn’t someone prepare me for the slings and arrows of life?
This poem brought back those memories, but then it also brought back those Mrs. Nelsons in my life. They might not be teachers, but those people who really saw me. Who saw that there was more than the quiet, self-conscious, afraid girl. And they gave me something — a word, or an affirmation, or sometimes just a look that said, “You’re just who you’re supposed to be and that’s grand.”
How the Word Works
A poem resists skimming. It asks to be read more than once, and differently each time.
A first reading: move through it naturally, pausing only at commas, dashes, and periods.
A second reading: slow down dramatically, treating every word as a deliberate choice.
A third reading: read it aloud. The ears catch meanings the eyes glide right past.
A Simple Practice
Spend time with the poem this week using all three readings — natural, slow, aloud. What do you notice on the third pass that you missed on the first?
Sheila’s Bio
Sheila McCann thinks she was born a contemplative. Growing up quiet, in a large family of extroverts, she spent years trying to overcome her shyness before learning to trust it. Meditation has been her prayer practice for over fifteen years, and she says the Still Point community is where her contemplative nature fully blossomed. A former communications consultant, she is a widow, a grandmother of three, and a chapel host Thursdays at 8am.
Poems, Parables & Proverbs was a Sunday email series shared with the Still Point community through the summer of 2026. Each week offered a text, a reflection from a member of our community, and a simple practice for the week ahead.