Tag Archives: NaPoWriMo

#300: The American English Teacher Gets His Courage Shit Together

“This shit works” –heard in conversation with Rick, and then later with Paul or Jeff, one or both of whom attributed it to Parker Palmer, perhaps apocryphally. 20 years ago I thought to myself there’s no way I can do this for another 20 years. I would need the strength of a half dozen supermen,Continue reading “#300: The American English Teacher Gets His Courage Shit Together”

#299: In a Dream, a Hammer Crushed a Teacup

In a dream, a Hammer crushed a Teacup, Seagulls flew overhead, one, wearing a Ballet Slipper, having lost its mate to a Shark. I sit at a Wobbly Table, recently crowned a third time by my Dentist, singing the Rowboat song. My therapist, who specializes in dream interpretation, is sad. He has no idea what it means. InContinue reading “#299: In a Dream, a Hammer Crushed a Teacup”

#298: Upended Pie Song

Bye bye miss American key lime pie. I drove the Chevy to the estuary, but the estuary was a sound. Those good old boys were drinking thistles and brine, singing, would you like some cheese with your wine, which they sang again for good measure. Did you write that book with gloves? And do you haveContinue reading “#298: Upended Pie Song”

#297: Front Yard Haibun

Mid April, that Japanese maple explodes first with leaves and the giant oak trees follow its little footsteps a few weeks later. It all happens at once. Most years no one sees it. One day there are no leaves. Next day a million leaves. The grass greens. There’s a hammock sometimes to nap in andContinue reading “#297: Front Yard Haibun”

#296: The 11th Poem of April

was difficult to write. I didn’t like today’s suggestion. I thought about witch hunts, fist fights between teenagers, and spring time rain. I thought about my dogs and how angry I was at the one for waking me up at 2 in the morning and at the other because she took a dump on myContinue reading “#296: The 11th Poem of April”

#294: How Woke?

Substitute plans laid out in plain sight and handouts ready that should keep my sophomores honest and hard at work, I head off this morning to a professional workshop in a district populated by mostly white kids and staffed by mostly white adults to have brave conversations about race. Even while the graduation rate forContinue reading “#294: How Woke?”

#293: In Which Mysterious and Magical Things Occur

The napowrimo website today provides a link to Percy Shelley’s “A Defense of Poetry,” where he says most famously that poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. His belief is that poetry is magic and that poets are kind of like wizards. I’ll buy that. I mean, I don’t consider myself a wizard byContinue reading “#293: In Which Mysterious and Magical Things Occur”

#292: Two Sides (a Dialogue with Self)

Recently, I was thinking about self talk, or, literally, the act of talking out loud to oneself, and decided finally, even though I suspected it all along, that it is a necessary and healthful behavior. I mean, what’s the signature feature of Shakespeare’s soliloquies? To me, the key feature of a Shakespeare soliloquy, beyond theContinue reading “#292: Two Sides (a Dialogue with Self)”

#291: Time’s Wild Variations

The challenge from napowrimo today is to write a poem that busts you out of your comfort level with line breaks. As my poetry goes, I typically lean toward the long and skinny, the mid-length blocky-thing, or the prose poem. I am uncomfortable with wild variations. So let’s do that then, shall we? Time’s WildContinue reading “#291: Time’s Wild Variations”