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”
Category Archives: Poetry
#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”
#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”
#223: A Course in Silence
My sophomores and I are studying the poetry of William Stafford and, as is inevitable in a study of poetry, at least from my perspective, we are also writing poems. An exercise slightly more open-ended than the corruption assignment, is to simply take inspiration from our man Stafford, either by attempting, as he did forContinue reading “#223: A Course in Silence”
#222: Why I Am Happy
Poet and teacher of mine from a long way back, Peter Sears, taught me about a thing called poetry by corruption, whereby you, the writer, take a poem that you like and just simply and with impunity steal things from it, or, steal it wholesale except for some words or phrases you’ve blanked out from theContinue reading “#222: Why I Am Happy”
April’s Greatest Hits: Audio Poems
So it was that during all of April I wrote poems, 32 of them to be precise, in celebration of National Poetry Writing Month. And they all, or most of them, turned out to be about this guy, or at least inspired by this guy, the Bard from Stratford Upon Avon, because, as you mayContinue reading “April’s Greatest Hits: Audio Poems”
#221: Some Silly Translations for the 30th Day of the Month of April
I’m not really proud of my efforts here, only because it seems rather slight for a culminating poem. I don’t speak Spanish, but my son and his school buddy Gracie are 4th graders in a bi-lingual immersion program, and they’re hanging out together on this last day of the month of April, so I enlistedContinue reading “#221: Some Silly Translations for the 30th Day of the Month of April”
#220: A Poem for Janine on the 29th Day of the Month of April
Do you remember, Janine, when we were not yet out of grade school, how we used to play at movie-making? We had no cameras or camcorders or iphones, only our minds to record the scenes conjured from unbound imagination, uninhibited and improvised, film stars in a film no one was watching nor would ever. SometimesContinue reading “#220: A Poem for Janine on the 29th Day of the Month of April”
#219: A Backwards Story Framed as a Lesson on Fiction Writing for the 28th of the Month of April
The resolution might be that there is no resolution. Let’s say for example that she can never be reconciled with her sister. In the crisis moment we reach a turning point, a confrontation, perhaps, or a situation from which there is no turning around or escape and must ultimately change things forever. Let’s say thatContinue reading “#219: A Backwards Story Framed as a Lesson on Fiction Writing for the 28th of the Month of April”
#218: Long Lines for the 27th of the Month of April
Because the spring beats its rhythm in the head of the school kids anxious for the arrival of Summer break, because teachers are either counting the days or trying to hold them back, having way too much shit to do and not nearly enough time to do it, because there’s the promise of music blaringContinue reading “#218: Long Lines for the 27th of the Month of April”
michael jarmer 