First of all, I was sick with a cold when at 10:30 pm I boarded the plane for a red-eye from Portland to Atlanta, a nearly five hour flight through most of which I would be sneezing and blowing and stuffing kleenex into my own private trash bag that I kept discreetly stuffed into theContinue reading “A Single Dispatch from Writer’s Camp on the 40th Anniversary of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College”
Monthly Archives: June 2016
#226: Orlando, Florida
In my classroom, alone, my senior students out already and a small, manageable list of things to do to wrap up the school year, I’ve got more time than I’m used to having and I find myself often thinking of you, Orlando, and looking at photos in an article, “Thousands Attend Vigil to Prove ThatContinue reading “#226: Orlando, Florida”
#225: On Writing Poetry in a Sports Bar
It’s the Lou Rawls they’re playing, which at first I mistake for Barry White, Lou Rawls and the rain, perhaps, that entices me to stay inside, ignoring the 47 inch screens lining every wall, muted today for Lou Rawls, the pinball machines, sports of all sorts, tennis of all sorts, grooving to “you’re gonna miss myContinue reading “#225: On Writing Poetry in a Sports Bar”
T@B Diaries #3: Barton Park
The t@b trailer’s fourth voyage, third diary entry, and second father, son, and dog camping trip, this time to Barton Park on the Clackamas river . . . during which frogs from a nearby pond sound off all night a noise not unlike the Australian didgeridoo, several of them, all resonating in different pitches; during which MichaelContinue reading “T@B Diaries #3: Barton Park”
#224: Early Summer Loss
On this hot June evening, my son and I listen to new music in the cool basement, staying up late, having a pretty darn good time. Before bed, though, one more chore: fold and put away the laundry in a pile on the bed upstairs. O horrors, as I’m folding I see these little curled upContinue reading “#224: Early Summer Loss”
Final Exam: The Visitor
Let’s say, you’re beginning class for your seniors in Creative Writing on the very last day of the school year, their final exam. Let’s say you have asked them to do this relatively simple but quite risky thing, to read a piece of their fiction out loud to the class. Okay. And let’s say thatContinue reading “Final Exam: The Visitor”