Oh my god, here he comes!He was a myth:descending the dark stairs,flourishing gestures of a hat,the First National Bank–his open window. Even in our ashesshe clasped the rich seclusion.She’s the one with the money.She’s the one wants to be an opera singer.She’s the one wants to be an actress! She halted, indecisively,the cool gulch ofContinue reading “#407: Another Erasure Poem on April 4, 2022”
Tag Archives: National Poetry Writing Month
#406: A Glosa for April 3, 2022
My meditation practice lately has been replaced with Arooj Aftab, a Pakistani-American singer writing her songs often by setting the words of 13th century Persian poet, Rumi, to music. She sings in Urdu; I don’t understand a word of it, and yet, 40 minutes or so with her album Vulture Prince is as good asContinue reading “#406: A Glosa for April 3, 2022”
Back At It To Celebrate National Poetry Month
Dear readers, fellow bloggers and poets, friends, Romans, countrymen, Lend me your ears and eyes, if you would. Every year there is a dry spell, a fallow period for yours truly in which almost nothing gets written. The last time I posted, it was December, 2021. This year that fallow period was way longer thanContinue reading “Back At It To Celebrate National Poetry Month”
#405: A Poem Inspired by the Etymology of Jargon and Clementine on April 2, 2022
The word jargon originally meant:birdsong. As in: this morning the backyard oaks were full of jargon. And the clementine orange was named after a French monk.And I wonder: how did the word for orange becomeassociated with lovers, and I learn,after a little digging, that the famous song is abouta specific woman, named afterthe orange, perhaps,Continue reading “#405: A Poem Inspired by the Etymology of Jargon and Clementine on April 2, 2022”
#404: Two Erasure Poems on April 1, 2022
Grotesquely muffled,the dancers, facesflushed with food, packed into a throngof neighbors. My heart gave a jump–a storm door, wooden. She was there in another moment, into the night. No mercy. The horse’s headhanging under the umbrella,water running in the gutter. Pleasant journey! The coachman,the waiter:transparent,shelter at the stationin the shadows. Goodbye.Goodbye.The hospital? Take good care.Goodbye.IContinue reading “#404: Two Erasure Poems on April 1, 2022”
#403: Poem on April 30, 2021
It’s always astounding to me, when I set myself the task of writing a poem a day for a month, and then each day becomes marked by a poem, how quickly the month seems to pass. Thirty poems seems like a lot of poems. Thirty days seems like a lot of days. It’s not. You’dContinue reading “#403: Poem on April 30, 2021”
#402: Poem on April 29, 2021
Poem on April 29 The best thing I could dofor myself this morning: spin Scary Monstersin the empty classroom before the students arrived,timing “Ashes to Ashes” and “Fashion” just for the moment as the first group of kids came throughthe doors of A-9.That was a good way to begin. What has felt like a weekofContinue reading “#402: Poem on April 29, 2021”
#401: Poem on April 28, 2021
Including today, there are three more days left of National Poetry Writing Month. I’ve made it this far and I haven’t missed a day. In previous years, while I always made it to 30, sometimes I would have to cheat a little and publish two poems in a single day. I cheated not a singleContinue reading “#401: Poem on April 28, 2021”
#400: Poem on April 27, 2021
Today seems like a milestone day. 400 poems, for instance. It’s taken 8 years, but that doesn’t seem too shabby of a record. That’s 50 poems a year. And here’s a smaller number, but a milestone, nevertheless: I have made it through the first two days–or one time through the entire schedule–of hybrid teaching. I’mContinue reading “#400: Poem on April 27, 2021”
#399: Poem on April 26, 2021
Remember that nightmare I had about distance learning? Poem #398 for easy reference. Well, that nightmare, or some version of it, was a lived experience for me on my first day back to school for hybrid learning. So here’s a poem on that occasion, unfortunately this time, not a dream but a reality. The kidsContinue reading “#399: Poem on April 26, 2021”
michael jarmer 