Flying by the Seat of My Pants It’s Easter, and I’m flying by the seat of my pants, winging it, making it up as I go along, which is, really, what I’ve been doing all along, each day, each moment: flying by the seat of my pants. Bonus Commentary: I improvised this silly little poemContinue reading “#145: Flying by the Seat of My Pants”
Tag Archives: poem a day
#130: Farewell, For Now
I asked my students what I should write my last poem of the month about and one kid suggested I go all meta. Write a poem about writing a poem about writing poems, he said. It was a pretty good idea. But instead, I took the prompt from the last prompt of the month from the NaPoWriMo website, not quite soContinue reading “#130: Farewell, For Now”
#129: Recipe for Disaster
Ocean of sky today, blue, clear, and a monkey siphoned all the gas from our car, gasoline fumes wafting, the drip, drip, drip evidence on concrete, crows soaring above the trees, I taste the toothpaste still from half an hour before, and rub an itch on my scalp, an itch that smells like gasoline. Rex Putnam, hereContinue reading “#129: Recipe for Disaster”
#128: John Oliver Slams My State
Today’s optional prompt from the Napowrimo curator is to write a poem entirely from the text of a newspaper article, manipulated any way one sees fit. Here’s this thing, courtesy of the Oregonian’s coverage of the debut episode of John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” show. I guess any publicity is good publicity: John Oliver Slams My StateContinue reading “#128: John Oliver Slams My State”
#123: On Shakespeare’s Birthday
Harold Bloom said that Shakespeare invented the human. Bloom’s a blowhard pretty much but I think in this case he might be right. What writer in English before Shakespeare anticipated Freud and Jung, fleshed out all the archetypes, captured the various loves and hates and the myriad mental states and the thousand natural shocks that flesh isContinue reading “#123: On Shakespeare’s Birthday”
#122: To My Son
Dear son, whatever befalls you in life, whichever direction you choose to go, wherever you go to school and whatever you decide to study, whatever religion you choose to follow, even if you choose, wisely I might ad, to follow no religion whatsoever, to be a spiritual non-religious person, whatever instrument you tackle, even ifContinue reading “#122: To My Son”
#121: Poem (Johnny Depp’s New Movie is a Flop)
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)”
#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”
michael jarmer 