Poems and Consequences

It sounds like fodder for a writers workshop novel (with all sorts of important things to say about our age): High school students learn that their assistant principal is a poet, they ask for a copy of his book, and it becomes clear that a few of the poems have some "adult" content. Parents become concerned and the man is placed on administrative leave.

This actually happened to a man named Sean Yisrael, assistant principal here locally at Princeton High School in Sharonville. The circumstances are unclear, and the final outcome is pending an investigation. Some details are known about the poetry in question:

The book - "Words From A Poet" - was published by Yisrael in 2003. It includes many poems on a variety of subjects. Several poems explore sexual themes. Titles with strong sexual content include "I Like Big Women," "The Nasty Man In Me," "Dream Lover" and "Is It a Crime?"

Well, it might be a crime, but I doubt it. It was certainly a bad idea. Any educator (especially one in an administrative role) should err on the side of caution when it comes to kids. Much depends on the context in which it was given to the teenagers. If it was handed over a desk and the students told "Yes, I've published a few poems, you can have a look." then it's still a lapse of judgement - Mr. Yisrael knew that his verse contained some R-rated themes. Likewise, if the book was handed to the teenagers in the context of - "Yeah, I'm a natural freak. Check it out." - then Mr. Yisrael should find employment elsewhere, at the very least.

Poetry Plenty of sexual poetry has been recogni