(for Scott) Walking the dog, focusing on the breath, in and out, in rhythm with my step, my digital meditation bell ticking away for twenty-five minutes inside my pocket, suddenly I realize that I am missing group meditation. I have to breathe more deeply through the frustration I feel for my forgetful self, meditating and forgettingContinue reading “#233: A Meditation on Forgetting to Meditate While Meditating”
Tag Archives: poem
#232: The Writer Dreams of a Debilitating Incompetence
When I don’t drink my dreams are more vivid and sometimes that’s not good. Last night I dreamt I was workshopping a piece of fiction with a large group of super smart writers. I had the manuscript in front of me and I was supposed to read a section of it out loud, but IContinue reading “#232: The Writer Dreams of a Debilitating Incompetence”
#228: On the Day After the Election
Having wept myself to sleep the night before, I got up and went to work in the school house where we met in small teams in the library to plan or do curriculum work or talk about assessments, where instead I chose to color with crayons at the table our new librarian set up forContinue reading “#228: On the Day After the Election”
#226: Orlando, Florida
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”
#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”
#217: Poem on the 26th of the Month of April
My head is empty of poems; instead it’s full of Shakespeare, trying to hold on to my lines even though the run is over. I found myself running some of them today for no other reason than to see if I could do it. My mind is full of The Flaming Lips because I’ve been listening toContinue reading “#217: Poem on the 26th of the Month of April”
#214: Lord Capulet Interrogates Michael Jarmer in a Closing Night Sonnet
First things first: Happy birthday, Bill! It’s been a super rough year. The loss of Bowie, Rickman et. al., and just days ago now, the devastating loss of Prince, makes one super conscious of the fragility of life, especially when our heroes fall, heroes who seemed to us untouchable and timeless, almost god-like. But now, involvedContinue reading “#214: Lord Capulet Interrogates Michael Jarmer in a Closing Night Sonnet”
#209: 35 Years Later, The Actor Playing Capulet Remembers Auditioning for Romeo
I was 16 when I auditioned for Romeo. I got Mercutio instead and I was happy about that because that guy has the best death scene in all of literature. But in preparation for my Romeo audition I carved out a space in my brain for Romeo’s balcony soliloquy and I still know it to this day, 35Continue reading “#209: 35 Years Later, The Actor Playing Capulet Remembers Auditioning for Romeo”
michael jarmer 