In the spirit of April Fools day, here’s the first sonnet of the month. It’s kind of a political thing, which surprised me. I had the first line and had no idea where I would go with it. My standards for what constitutes a sonnet is simply 14 lines with a rough 10 syllable construction.Continue reading “#474: It takes a fool to know a fool, they say . . .”
Category Archives: Poetry
#473: The First Novel I Ever Read
Welcome to the very first day of National Poetry Writing Month, 2024, the goal of which is to write a poem every day for 30 days. I have nearly lost count at this point of the number of consecutive years I have participated in this ritual. I venture to say twelve. For twelve years inContinue reading “#473: The First Novel I Ever Read”
NaPoWriMo 2024: More, More, More, He Cried. With A Rebel Yell.
Well, that’s a nutty title–funny only for those familiar with the Billy Idol song, but appropriate for the year in the National Poetry Writing Month Extravaganza because I’m doing it again and I’m hoping to go big. Last year I vowed to write a sonnet every day for 30 days and I was, lo andContinue reading “NaPoWriMo 2024: More, More, More, He Cried. With A Rebel Yell.”
On the Sixth Day of 2024: The Creative Impulse, or What the Hell Am I Doing?
I must say that the sixth day of 2024 has been a rough one. I slept in a little bit longer than I usually do, then, diverging from my usual practice of hitting the cushion before doing anything electronically, other than calling up my meditation timer, I read a text message. Needless to say, myContinue reading “On the Sixth Day of 2024: The Creative Impulse, or What the Hell Am I Doing?”
On the Fifth Day of 2024: Meditation Method
I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching. Ralph Waldo Emerson Stuff coming out, stuff going in. I’m just a part of everything. Peter Gabriel My meditation practice, as I discovered it some twenty-three years ago now, has been to sit in silence, either alone or with a group. EvenContinue reading “On the Fifth Day of 2024: Meditation Method”
Mindfulness in 2023: A Reflection
It has been five years since I have written one of these end-of-the-year reflections. I’m coming into this one after rereading what I wrote in 2018. In the intervening half a decade, I must have been just too overwhelmed by COVID and the ending of a career in education to be bothered to do aContinue reading “Mindfulness in 2023: A Reflection”
It’s Been A Long Time . . .
. . .since we rock and rolled. So long, in fact, that my hair color has changed from purple to blue and then to silver. Apologies to anyone who might have missed me. It was April the last time I posted something new. I’m not including July’s essay “Reflections on 37 Years of Marriage” becauseContinue reading “It’s Been A Long Time . . .”
#472: When I taught “The Red Wheelbarrow” . . .
Here we are on the last day of National Poetry Writing Month, or, in my neck of the woods, National Write A Sonnet Every Day Month. It has been a trip, to say the least, this project of committing oneself to a particular form over and over. I think I would recommend it. Outside ofContinue reading “#472: When I taught “The Red Wheelbarrow” . . .”
#471: What if May is the new January . . .
Twenty-nine (I) What if May is the new January? How would you move forward if that were true? Think of things you want and those things you don’tAnd make a list or chart to catalogYour life in this moment; don’t forget smallStuff: the dogs, deep breathing, the way it feelsTo put new records on the turntable,Sitting outsideContinue reading “#471: What if May is the new January . . .”
#470: I look up at the index of my life . . .
You would think I might be running out of steam, but after posting today’s poem I looked in at the NaPoWriMo website, out of curiosity, to see the prompt for today, and I could not help myself. The prompt was to write a poem inspired by, modeled after, or found in an index. I thoughtContinue reading “#470: I look up at the index of my life . . .”
michael jarmer 