Poetry Month Day 8: Honey, I (should) Love*

There was that podcast the other day
about tacky stuff.
Not the tape
or the glue
or the stick-em-up putty,
but the stuff that doesn’t
deserve
love or fandom,
but somehow
gets us.

Things I love more than a person should:
boxed macaroni and cheese,
singing in front of my children,
plain marshmallows,
new school supplies,
the feeling of flossed teeth

Things I love less than a person should:
button mushrooms,
Tiktok,
dog kisses,
coffee
sitting down to write
in discipline, intention

*with apologies to Eloise Greenfield

Poetry Month Day 7: How I’m Doing

Each
day I
move myself
start to finish,
not quite knowing how

I
have the
energy
to keep going
but somehow I do…

I
do think
probably
I could use some
time to just relax.

Sometimes, when I’m looking for a way to post a poem for the day, I’ll look around for a poetic form I’ve been waiting to try. Today, it’s the Arun, a poem with three sets of five lines, with each line increasing in number of syllables from one to five.

Poetry Month Day 6: What it’s Like

Hey kids! In honor
of National Poetry Month
let’s try a little
FUN with SIMILES

Ever wonder
what it’s like to teach
a group of
eleven-year-olds
a new thing
in technology?

Forget herding cats
or nailing Jell-o to the wall.

It’s like

putting puppies in a box
cleaning raw egg with your bare hands
riding a bike on top of a skateboard
playing checkers with six people at once
getting the last corner of a full-sized fitted sheet on a queen-sized bed

except harder.

So. Real talk? Today, I worked with a group of fifth-graders to set up their own blogs on a new platform. Don’t get me wrong: there is some REAL excitement in the air about some new stuff we’re doing, and that will forever be infectious. Enthusiasm on the part of my students will always, always get me out of bed in the morning.

Still, there are moments that test a girl. Those moments make up teaching just as much as those flashes of joy and jubilation. Teaching is astounding. AND it’s hard sometimes. It’s okay for it to be both.

Poetry Month Day 5: Life as a Poet

It’s a blessingcurse
to
live in metaphor:
to see
sun pushing through clouds,
a shoelace refusing to relinquish its knots,
extra-long stoplights,
a stubbed toe,
wondering if
these things carry meaning

or just are what they are

and wondering if
that’s yet
another metaphor


Today’s quadrille was inspired by Raivenne, one of the folks who challenge me to try something new here and there.


Poetry Month Day 3: Birthday Tribute

Today my niece would have been twenty-one.

Birthdays.

They’re weird when the person we wish to celebrate is instead memorialized, made tribute-to.

Grief is weird.

Today, I’m sharing the poem I wrote last year because I don’t think I can do much better – but I’m adding an encouraging post-script for those of you who make it to the end. Thanks for reading.

Birthdays
should be marked
by cake and ice cream,
Instagram posts and Facebook wishes
Or texts, the kind with hearts
And balloons
And silly memes

but
this time
next time
every time

I’d settle
for
anything
that fills the absence.

I draft and scribble out poems in my head:

a catalog of today’s distractions

our conversation in the sun today

the four times I cried
(frustration, grief, happiness, gratitude)

how I wonder if other people
get to talk to those
long-gone, or not-so-long-gone,
or if I am lucky
or just weird

how dumb it is to depend on words anyway –
the arrogance of insisting
life can always be willed
into poem.

Post-script: In Crossfit, there are often “tribute” workouts dedicated to the memory of those who have fallen, often armed service members or first responders. These workouts incorporate elements or dates from their lives. I thought it was fitting to craft a workout in Jess’s memory, and I put it together with the help of Jess’s younger brother.

I put a call out to my gym members letting them know I’d be doing her workout today. I expected one or two folks to show up and sweat alongside me, but I was floored that so many came out to show their support. Knowing that I could draw on their love and strength brought tears to my eyes.

And we’re still smiling afterwards. Whew!

Poetry Month Day 2: Nothing Gold

I just needed one thing,
but in my drive
to the store I
tallied
the things I could also
gather, until
I saw I couldn’t

which reminded me of the
barbecue sauce I’ve sought
across five stores and
just
can’t
find
to save my life,

or that one frozen dinner
that was always my favorite,
never to be found
again
in the freezer section,

or those dried apples
or the chipotle ketchup
or the pancake mix
or the beet chips
or that spice blend,

and I wonder
if my
love for a thing
is a kiss of death –
whether there is a
deeper metaphor
behind my search, or
whether the
ephemeral
nature
of grocery product
is what Frost meant
when he said
nothing gold can stay.

Poetry Month, Day 1: Why Poetry

Of course, she thought
Of course I can write emails
And articles
And stories
And reflections
And journal entries

Of course, she thought,
There’s something to be said
For prosaic expression:
Tamed thoughts
Herded words
In nice neat lines
In nice neat columns
Of nice neat paragraphs

And of course, she thought
There comes a point
When words need to spill
Into whatever shape
Or form
Or style
They demand

And it is only then, she thought
With an exhale
That she is
Most
At
Home.

Story Challenge Day 31: Finding the Words

A while back, I was looking for a word to describe the relationships that I have with the writers I’ve gotten to know online through the March story challenge. I wanted a word that accurately captured the synergy I feel with so many of you.

And when I’m looking for a word that fits exactly what I want to say, I go to the thesaurus with a word that doesn’t work, but will maybe lead me there. I’m very picky when it comes to using the thesaurus. It’s like, I can’t think of the exact word that escapes me, but I’ll know it when I see it. I’ll come across the word, and it will fit like that last piece in the jigsaw puzzle, the one I can place with a sigh of relief.

So I started just with the word people. Not surprisingly, I didn’t find the word that fit the shade of meaning I was going for, the sense of friendship and belonging.

Person, maybe? No, that was even worse than the first one.

Maybe comrade would do the job? Was that what I was searching for? Eh, in the right ballpark. So maybe I meant compadre, which then led me to two heads thinking as one another – which, when you think about it, is an interesting place to end up. 

Two heads thinking as one another. Heads, hearts, souls, separate but traveling in similar directions.

How many times have I read a post and seen myself in someone else’s words? How many times do I read words and wish I had been the one to write them? How many times have I felt validated and affirmed through the experience of others?

Two heads thinking as one another. Compadres. Co-conspirators. Synergy. Whatever you call it, I’m grateful for all of you I’ve had the chance to get to know, or get to know better, through your writing this month.

As for me, you’ll catch me right back here tomorrow, forging ahead for poetry month. Hope to see you soon!

Story Challenge Day 30: List Poem

  1. Today, I have decided,
  2. I will write a list poem.
  3. About all of the things that made me happy
  4. And maybe some other stuff
  5. Depending on where the words lead me.
  6. Right now my house is empty
  7. But full
  8. Of delicious cooking-smells:
  9. Sundubu jjigae for later this week
  10. Breakfast for dinner tonight
  11. Banana bars for all the snacks.
  12. And the dog
  13. She isn’t complaining
  14. That I didn’t brave the rain
  15. To walk her today
  16. And the laundry is done
  17. And my work is done
  18. And tomorrow I can sleep late
  19. And get a fresh start,
  20. And I’ve almost made it to the end of March
  21. And I’ve written every day
  22. And maybe I haven’t pushed myself too hard
  23. But maybe I needed to learn self-forgiveness
  24. And patience
  25. And release.

Interested in learning more about the March Slice of Life Challenge, or wanting to read more great posts? Head over to the Two Writing Teachers site!