What follows is a strange little thing called a New York School poem, of which type, while I didn’t know its name until today, I have seen from time to time in my travels as a poetry reader. Apparently, there’s even a recipe for such an animal! I used some of the items from this particularContinue reading “#121: Poem (Johnny Depp’s New Movie is a Flop)”
Tag Archives: National Poetry Month
#120: The Resident Eight Year Old Speaks of Easter
Well, at first, I thought it was just about candy, you know, just as I thought Christmas was about presents. And I thought Easter was about magical bunnies just as Christmas was about Santa. But now I know. Now I know that Easter and the Christmas holiday are both about Jesus. In December, people celebrateContinue reading “#120: The Resident Eight Year Old Speaks of Easter”
#119: Cancer Language
We are learning a new language now and it’s called breast cancer, pouring over the pathology report, trying to make sense of her malignant neoplasm, surrounded by subcutaneous fat with features consistent with healing a surgical incision. The biopsy shows features consistent with the previous biopsy, ductal carcinoma in situ, lobular intraepithelial neoplasia, and fibrocysticContinue reading “#119: Cancer Language”
#118: The Boy Has Begun Practicing the Piano in Earnest
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”
#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”
michael jarmer 