At 3 in the morning, no Barking, but an old dog fails the attempt to Climb the stairs, Drops back down: Early, the dog is sick. Fuck. Shit everywhere, God awful stench, Holding back my own retching, In every room of the main floor, I’m Juggling paper towels, disinfectant, Kitchen linoleum scrub, Livid, trying not toContinue reading “#150: Sick Dog (an Abecedarian)”
Category Archives: Poetry
#149: Unspeakable
Unspeakable I’m trying to find words to describe how I feel when, during a reading from Elie Wiesel’s Night, I look up and see students looking at their phones. One student, in particular, looks at me, and without irony, without hesitation, and without, I would say, consciousness, says, as if it were a legitimate explanation, that sheContinue reading “#149: Unspeakable”
#148: I’ve Got To Write A Poem
I’ve Got to Write a Poem The boy says, daddy, come play with me, and I say, no son, I’ve got to write a poem. A pitfall of national poetry writing month: potentially bad, or at least neglectful parenting. Oh, damn, that’s right, he says, it’s April. You never play with me in April. AndContinue reading “#148: I’ve Got To Write A Poem”
#147: Ode to Ears
Ode to Ears They say you only appreciate something once you’ve lost it. I didn’t lose my ears, literally, but rather, the use of them. Because some glob of wax lodged itself deep inside my ears, I have been dizzy deaf now for several days. A horrible experience, but worth it: the doctor reaches inContinue reading “#147: Ode to Ears”
#146: Ode to Pablo Neruda’s Odes
Ode to Pablo Neruda’s Odes The socks, the book, the storm, the fallen chestnut, the watch, the tomato, laziness, Pablo’s odes are tropical fish in a tank, darting back and forth, reaching for sky, coming up for air, going down deep for sunken treasure, the nourishment of the mundane. When the ordinary gets the special treatmentContinue reading “#146: Ode to Pablo Neruda’s Odes”
#145: Flying by the Seat of My Pants
Flying by the Seat of My Pants It’s Easter, and I’m flying by the seat of my pants, winging it, making it up as I go along, which is, really, what I’ve been doing all along, each day, each moment: flying by the seat of my pants. Bonus Commentary: I improvised this silly little poemContinue reading “#145: Flying by the Seat of My Pants”
#144: Love Poem
Today from http://www.napowrimo.net: “I challenge you to write a “loveless” love poem. Don’t use the word love! And avoid the flowers and rainbows.” So here’s a love poem about my mother and father for which I tried to avoid cliché and all the other various love poem traps. Love Poem I think of my mother massagingContinue reading “#144: Love Poem”
#143: The Silent Note-Writing Game
The Silent Note-Writing Game I don’t know how we landed on the idea. Perhaps chaos of the 9 year old variety inspired me to propose a game in which we must be silent and can only communicate through written notes to each other back and forth on a shared piece of paper or two. He loved it. And in the lastContinue reading “#143: The Silent Note-Writing Game”
#142: This School Year Has Not Been, Thus Far,
On this second day of National Poetry Writing Month, compliments of the prompt for the first day on the http://www.napowrimo.net website, a poem of negation, a poem that describes a thing in terms of what it is not: This School Year Has Not Been, Thus Far, soft and cuddly, a baby blanket; warm and inviting,Continue reading “#142: This School Year Has Not Been, Thus Far,”
#141 Teaching Without A Voice
I begin the cruelest month of National Poetry Writing hopefully recovering from a bout of laryngitis and ready to go back to the classroom. Thus, the inspiration for my first poem of 30, one for every day of the month of April, comes not from a prompt, but from this: Teaching Without A Voice isContinue reading “#141 Teaching Without A Voice”
michael jarmer 