The boy has begun practicing the piano in earnest, without haranguing, without cajoling, when minecraft is not available, he sits down of his own accord and plays his excercises. A joy- ous occasion for mom and dad, who can see the beginnings of a fire burning for music, of which maybe they suspected was there,Continue reading “#118: The Boy Has Begun Practicing the Piano in Earnest”
Category Archives: Poetry
#117: Date Night
When my parents were going out, the house stank of perfume and cologne, aftershave and hairspray, a suffocating amalgam of indescribable smells found nowhere in nature, but pleasant somehow to my young nose, a festive, anticipatory smell of dancing and booze and card games and the precursor for me to a fast food dinner, beingContinue reading “#117: Date Night”
#116: Pants on Fire
I hate teaching and I hate my students. I’m terrible and they’re terrible. What they say is true, that those who can’t teach end up teaching– and that’s me. And my colleagues, they can all just go to hell for all I care. None of them are good company; nor are they good teachers. I’veContinue reading “#116: Pants on Fire”
#115: Terza Rima (A Complaint Ending In Banana)
I’m sorry about this one. Written late in the day when the brain is mush, it’s a terza rima, a form invented or popularized by Dante and bastardized by the English: 3 line stanzas in iambic pentameter with a “chained” rhyme scheme that ends in a single line chained to the middle rhyme of the lastContinue reading “#115: Terza Rima (A Complaint Ending In Banana)”
#114: Seven Questions and a Statement (A Sonnet)
The suggestion for today was to write a poem consisting of nothing but questions–until the very last line, a statement. It’s a reversal of an assignment I remember from last year which resulted for me in a poem called “Six Statements and a Question.” This year, I’ve added a little edge to the task: in honorContinue reading “#114: Seven Questions and a Statement (A Sonnet)”
#113: The Child House
The Child House is so called because the children in this building outnumber the adults about thirty-seven to one. Inside over a thousand big children are busy (or not) at some purpose which often remains mysterious to them, but never- theless is perceived by many to be of some importance. Many of the kids love theContinue reading “#113: The Child House”
#112: Ambiguity Racing
Our next entry in the NaPoWriMo festival of fun is a thing called a “replacement” poem. You wiki-search a common noun for a physical thing, copy and paste some text–and then the real fun begins–replace each occurrence of the physical thing-noun with an abstract noun like love or sorrow or happiness. I chose my all-timeContinue reading “#112: Ambiguity Racing”
#111: Of Love and Wine
Today’s poem is an exercise in Anacreontics, something I have never heard about, let alone tried, before today. Anacreon was a Greek poet who made a thing out of writing about Wine and Love, Love and Wine, all the time, in seven syllable lines. I’m game. Of Love and Wine I prefer bourbon, lately, to the wine–itContinue reading “#111: Of Love and Wine”
#110: Shameless Self-Promotion (An Advertisement Poem)
The NaPoWriMo website today suggests that we try an advertisement poem. That’s an actual thing, apparently. As an example, the NaPoWriMo curator provides Exhibit A: Said Farmer Brown Who’s bald on top “Wish I could Rotate the crop” Burma-Shave So rather than create a poem advertising Burma Shave or a made-up product or some thingContinue reading “#110: Shameless Self-Promotion (An Advertisement Poem)”
#109: A Poem from Randomly Generated Song Titles
We wanted something more Pastoral but ended up with the Mother of Violence singing Mr. Blue’s Theme surrounded by the luminous Lights of New York. Nothing But Time, we thought, Great. No longer following the tao, Stuff is Way now, no sign today or any time soon of a True Original, no glowing Blue Moon, only aContinue reading “#109: A Poem from Randomly Generated Song Titles”
michael jarmer 