Learning to Ride He’s seven, reluctant to ride independently, most of his classmates far ahead on two wheels, which has not been a problem for him, so he says. No, I’m scared, he has said. No, I like the scooter better, he has said. I will never ride a bike, he has said. Never, heContinue reading “#48: Learning to Ride”
Tag Archives: poetry
#47: Letting the Lawn Brown Out
Letting the Lawn Brown Out Otherwise, it would cost a small fortune for all the water it would take to keep it green, and who’s to say that somehow green is prettier than brown? It’s softer, yeah, sure, but I’m not a barefoot kind of guy so I’m always wearing shoes and I’d never knowContinue reading “#47: Letting the Lawn Brown Out”
#45: The Seven Year Old Understands Adult Psychology (Whispering Across the Table)
The Seven Year Old Understands Adult Psychology (Whispering Across the Table) So the boy and his mother are bickering, you know, the usual stuff, it’s time for dinner and someone won’t put away the iPad. There are repeated requests, some back talk, further struggling, the ubiquitous countdown, and then the final capitulation with an accompanimentContinue reading “#45: The Seven Year Old Understands Adult Psychology (Whispering Across the Table)”
#44: Sure, I Will Marry You
Sure, I Will Marry You Sure, I’ll marry you, if you’d like. That’s what I told a student of mine who sent me this message out of the blue fifteen years or better after he’d been in my classroom reading some Shakespeare, saying he had asked his girlfriend, who was also a student of mineContinue reading “#44: Sure, I Will Marry You”
#43: The Summertime Blues Is A Real Thing
The Summer Time Blues Is A Real Thing I’m here to tell you that the Summertime Blues is a real thing. And I’m not talking about the silly song about the kid who couldn’t work late or can’t use the damn car and is too young to vote, no, I’m talking about the summertime blues thatContinue reading “#43: The Summertime Blues Is A Real Thing”
#41: On the Very Last Work Day of the School Year
On the Very Last Work Day of the School Year It began with a breakfast during which we said tearful goodbyes to beloved colleagues retiring or moving on, a difficult, but joyful thing, wanting them to stay but wishing them well and happy returns for all they’ve done for our school and our kids. WeContinue reading “#41: On the Very Last Work Day of the School Year”
#38: Last Night I Dreamt I Was Awake and Unable to Sleep
I’m not especially skilled at dream interpretation, probably because I don’t invest the time. However, here’s a poem about one of the most annoying types of dreams in my personal repertoire. True story. Last Night I Dreamt I Was Awake and Unable to Sleep Last night I dreamt I was awake and unable to sleep.Continue reading “#38: Last Night I Dreamt I Was Awake and Unable to Sleep”
#37: On Failure
I wrote these short little pieces from various failure perspectives. There’s such an intriguing and wide variety of ways to fail. Maybe we gain a little bit of insight by reaching into these mindsets–even for a moment–provided we’re not cynical or simply poking fun. There’s nothing funny about it. Each represents an underlying problem thatContinue reading “#37: On Failure”
#36: On Teaching Vietnam
On Teaching Vietnam We have read Bao Ninh’s The Sorrow of War and now we’re watching a film called Regret To Inform, a documentary inspired by Barbara Sonneborn’s personal quest, twenty years after the fact, to come to terms with her husband’s death in Vietnam, to go there to that country, to try to understand where,Continue reading “#36: On Teaching Vietnam”
#35: Sax and Violins
The title stolen from the Talking Heads tune; the subject stolen from real life. Censorship, or the urge to censor, is still alive and well. Sax and Violins The parent of the high school junior objects to all the sax and violins in the literature studied in English classes. She objects, in the case ofContinue reading “#35: Sax and Violins”
michael jarmer 