Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Half the Day at Work, Divided by Salary Divided by Hour Equals...
If I wasn't fascinated by "A Very Duggar Wedding," I'd be asleep right now. No kissing until the wedding day!? I remember events in my life based on who I was kissing at the time. Learning to drive? Chris. Quitting Naval ROTC? Dave. Etc. That means my life from the first one on is broken up into about forty segments. Good classification system. I suppose marriage will merit a new system, sadly. Or not sadly, actually. I'm learning simple is preferable, most of the time. ....As are qualifiers after every statement.
Michael and I move into our new, *two story* place on Saturday. I have not started packing yet. Procrastination leads to increased productivity when it really counts.
Trying to jump-start a high school poetry league in Central Arkansas, as well as work on becoming a writer with any sort of credibility in a world full of writers with impressive verse resumes, makes me feel about like this:
from unknown flickr account - need a credit!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Community Bakery Slam
Labels poem, from round 1. I NEED to learn how to stand up straight and not hunch over sloppily. And not sway side to side nervously. And do some crunches. And memorize. If I wasn't editing my poems up until the slam started, I might have actually attempted. Lennon hosted this slam, Michael sacrificed in round 2, and we had 10 poets competing from Hendrix Colege, Cabot High School, and one new face. I need to work on my marketing skills, (and my performance anxiety), and things will be amazing.
I spent round 2 fighting to be heard over a cappucino machine. So it goes.
Sunday Afternoon Visits
- This is what I need to do. It might make moving next Saturday much cheaper.
- Controlling relationships: I'm inclined to agree with her take on Bella & Edward
- Can not WAIT to see this movie! I will be wearing my Sendak shirt to opening night.
- I hate hate hate that teacher's are expected to censor themselves 24/7. Some of these stories horrify me, (some people got what they deserved, I'll admit, but others, no). Where is the ACLU when you need them...
- "People need the courage to be lonely"
- It's never too late to change your life - posted at iCing, well worth re-posting.
- Advice for reading poetry out loud - all things I wish some of my students would consider.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Resolve
Michael and I decided not to go to Cool Shoes tonight, (first time I've ever missed), in light of rest, refraining from spending money, and - for me, at least - time to work on poems. I love writing when I feel as though I can't NOT write. But if I could be in Atlanta right now with Joanie & Julia, I would - so come on Air Tran, fly to Little Rock! Digression.
- Henry Van Dyke
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Poem in Progress
I don’t like things with definitive beginnings and endings.
Final destinations and points of embarkment
Should be as difficult to distinguish
As finding the edge of a globe.
Clocks should become antiquated and rust
While calendar pages should track only dust.
And I should never be able to measure a heartache
From the moment he told me it wasn’t love till today.
But the days close like books on my ability to say that
After the end,
When I deleted his number even though he said
we could still be friends,
I weighed the value of each event spent together
and decided none are worth the rent
They pay to occupy space in my memory.
One an entrance clattering open like doors in a storm
And then the exit orchestrated like twenty cellos playing the wrong chord.
I have been jarred from my seat and shaken –
It wasn’t my heart he had taken
but the fluidity of my days.
Now, I like my fits and starts to blend smoothly and seamlessly
Into the next occurrence,
Like the edges of sheets overlapped in the laundry,
One long unfolding of days without birthdays,
Christenings, funerals or break ups,
Or any disturbance that corrupts with the abruptness of the unexpected.
I want one kiss to last until the next and
To not divide life into eras.
I do not want a fossil record of characters to collect and categorize.
I’d fail the test that required me to memorize
Where each face fits in.
If there were no endings,
there would be no date on a calendar
By which I can measure the length of his leaving.
When the screen door slammed behind him
And broke summer in half,
I heard the months of the calendar laugh at my attempts to
Divide the year into seasons,
To supply his absence with a reason.
Today, I will mark it on my calendar for something amazing to happen,
For a firework to hang stranded and suspended above my roof.
I’ll tether it to a string and present it as proof
That things don’t have to fade or end.
Linear time is a concept philosophy can’t defend.
I have classified my existence by landmarks,
Phases I label by the names of people I loved,
Our meetings and partings are commemorated like holidays.
But today I resolve to denounce anything that
Detracts from the sanctity of now.
Forever trails behind this second
Like a parent straitening a bicycle,
It grips the seat and promises to “not let go.”
I pedal the minute forward and keep eternity in tow.
I’m turning a new corner
Where anniversaries don’t exist.
There is only what is and always was.
Thus, if I love you now you may assume that
I always have and always will.
I will swallow eternity like a pill and
Insure that if I loved you before, then I do, still.
I refuse the exorbitant cost of an ending,
To watch something that soared descending.
Without a then or a now,
I already know all of the people I will ever meet.
Shaking hands will become a mere formality and
I shall refuse to accept absolutes as acceptable rationality.
I crumple the table of contents of life,
Erase the index and chronology,
And bend the time line into a revolving circle.
The only death I accept is that of definitives.
I close their door,
And welcome the infinite.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Frustrated Flower Flinging
These have been three of the most frustrating days in the year. Is it because spring break is around the corner and the universe knows it needs to get its kicks in while it can? Between parents with personal agendas, getting ready to move (again), not agreeing on logic with my landlord, bad communication, administration I don't get along with, other human beings who nobody can get along with... it's been a bit rough.
Today, though, it was finally spring weather. The bradford pear trees are changing from white to green and the petals are lining the street curbs like snow. Michael and I took Bella for a walk around the Quapaw district, and I picked up a handful and threw them at him. Unfortunatley, they literally back fired. There are still bradford pear tree petals in my hair.
In all the spare time I have, I am going to study this article. Perhaps implementing some of its advice would lessen a bit of the stress I feel under. Or I could get a hobby, like shooting handguns or cage fighting...
Monday, March 16, 2009
Love Notes; One Hundred Places
Great Barrier Reef, Australia: adventure waiting to happen
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Dear Third Quarter,
Saturday, March 14, 2009
March 14, 1982
Susan & Jann @ our last house in Texas, circa 2003
Friday, March 13, 2009
Creating an Internet Presence
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Literary Love
I've already planned my next two tattoos. The first, on the side of my right wrist, will simply be "MD." Pure insider knowledge. The second will not, in fact, be "YEATS" even though that's technically what I said when I went to drop off the design, but it will be a Yeat's quote on my right hip. From "Who Will Go With Fergus Now," I want:
"All dishevelled wandering stars"
with a picture of the Amanda's Pennant (celithemas Amanda) dragonfly flanking the lettering. If only money were no object... although because it is, I save myself some skin for all the things I want permanently added in my 30's, 40's, etc. So, perhaps not a negative after all. I am still jealous of Stephanie's shoulder blade tattoo: "for life is not a paragraph / and death I think is no parenthesis." I gave that poem to my students earlier this year, and they were not nearly as receptive as I was when I first came across those lines in high school. They seem to find cummings "too confusing."
I remind myself to be patient.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Hiatus Stasis Ends Now
I'm trying to decide what focus I want to give my posts, if any, as this is 99% for my sole entertainment. I've recently become involved with a non-profit poetry education organization, so I intend to chronicle that and all things poetry in Central Arkansas, as well as my own poetic endeavors that have been re-awakened through my enthusiasm for poetry in education. Speaking of, I have some editing to do. (And to any nay-sayers concerning Arkansas poets: the Hendrix slam team just took first place at regional competition in Corpus Christi, TX, and the University of Arkansas team has a history of kicking everyone's ass at nationals - so I am convinced that Arkansas is a veritable breeding ground for stellar poets - Miller Williams, anyone?).
I competed in my first slam at Community Bakery last month, won second place, and now need to work double hard to keep that sort of standing in the future. Especially since it means beating Lennon again :)