Mark Chartier
HPPR Poets on the Plains, Featured PoetMark Chartier developed symptoms of Tourette’s syndrome when he was seven years old and demonstrated significant behaviors throughout school. He persevered thanks to positive relationships with school staff. He earned a BA in English at Colorado State University-Pueblo, where he discovered his love for writing, and two master’s degrees at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs despite suffering from newly diagnosed disabilities including a brain injury and a significant stutter. He now teaches special education in southern Colorado and gives motivational speeches, sharing his triumphs as a student with disabilities and how they led him to become a teacher of students with disabilities. Mark’s second collection of poetry, Tell Me Something Good, was a finalist for the 2025 Colorado Book Award. His first, Fingerprints, was published in 2018. His work has also appeared in The Awakenings Review, Pilgrimage, LIGHT, and The Volney Road Review. For more information, please visit: www.teacherwithtourettes.com
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Hi, I’m Juan J. Morales, an assistant professor of English at Colorado College and a poet in Pueblo, Colorado, here for Poets on the Plains. Today, I’m excited to share with you a poem by fellow Pueblo poet, Mark Chartier, titled, “Kindergarten.”
