Category Archives: poetry

Everyone Wants an Answer Key

Family, Pets, poetry, Reflections on teaching, Slice of Life, Uncategorized
This slice is part of the March Slice of Life Challenge on  Two Writing Teachers! #sol26. I’m slicing every day in March. Thanks for stopping by!

Everyone wants an answer key
You might be surprised,
I don’t know if it will be pleasantly…

False. I was up by 5 something, of course.
True. Heavy work … When it works, it works.
True. I needed to clean my clothes.
False. But I did sit on the rug down low.
False. That will start this week, every day, all the days.
False. It was 10. Seems way less than most days.
True. I’m vegan but I use honey if I’m desperate
True. She said “Oh my,” but accepted it.
False. It’s my dog who needs all the meds.
True. Pajamas… not just for going to bed!
True. Bananas are a popular snack.
True. But he had a different walk, and I had a cough attack
True. We had to stay in until outside was cleared.
True. We can talk now. Isn’t that weird?
False. It was the kids’ lie detector project that was broken.
True. I wish this was something misspoken.

Sorry, Can’t Talk…

Family, poetry, Slice of Life
This slice is part of the March Slice of Life Challenge on  Two Writing Teachers! #sol26. I’m slicing every day in March. Thanks for stopping by!

Oh my gosh, guys.
I can’t talk, guys.

My college kid is coming home
his sister went to bring him home
for the weekend

No big deal
Nothing unusual
He comes home a lot

But oh my gosh, guys.
Do you know what he said?

He said
Home around 7
for family pizza and a movie.

Maybe he’s going to ask me for money
or something
But my other kids said
sounds fun
And I picked up the pizza
And some vegan ice cream too

Oh my gosh, guys.
Do you think the kids will agree
on a movie?

I’m so glad I started steroids for my cough yesterday.
that’s the only way I’ll stay up for this.

From My Kitchen Where I Wait For My Chili to Heat Up

poetry, Slice of Life
This slice is part of the March Slice of Life Challenge on  Two Writing Teachers! #sol26. I’m slicing every day in March. Thanks for stopping by!

From my kitchen, where I wait for my chili to heat up,
I see
Bananas.
It’s bananas that I can’t buy enough bananas.
I see
Mail, that somehow piles up.
And speaking of piling up
Why are there always dishes in the sink, even when I get them all done before bed every night?

From my kitchen, where I wait for my chili to heat up,
I hear
Drip-Drip
…pause…
drip-drip
…pause…
…pause…
Drip!
It’s also bananas that my kitchen sink is suddenly dripping –
I just had the plumber here to replace my hot water tank! He was nice, but I don’t wanna invite him over again.

From my kitchen, where I wait for my chili to heat up,
I see
My couch
The corner of my couch, to be exact
Where I will soon sit
With my bowl of homemade vegan chili from my mom —
And my kindle
Because nobody is home
And it’s bananas that my cough won’t go away
Ao that is what I plan to do with the rest of this
Wild and precious
Night
That,
and some tea.


Crunch Crunch Crunch

poetry, Reflections on teaching, Slice of Life
This slice is part of the March Slice of Life Challenge on  Two Writing Teachers! #sol26. I’m slicing every day in March. Thanks for stopping by!


One of my second-graders loves to crush pretzels on the floor.
I may be exaggerating.
He’s done it twice.
Once into the carpet – that was a big mess.
And today just a small pretzel crushing.
Both he cleaned up, of course.
Natural consequences for the win.
My student teacher wonders if maybe it was just so fun to crunch them under his feet, like a sensory experience.
I wonder if we could find bubble wrap.
I say how I love to crunch acorns under my feet.
She shares how she purposely walks on leaves for the crunch.
And later as I take my afternoon dog walk, and step with intention on those acorns, I think again of Mardi who loved the crunch of acorns on a walk.
I wonder if I could collect acorns and sticks and leaves and bubble wrap and we could see what he likes best.
Or, we could have a March Madness bracket of things that are fun to crunch under our feet with the whole class!
acorns
sticks
leaves
bubble wrap
gravel
ice
What else could we do a crunch investigation with?

Sunday Night

Pets, poetry, Reflections on teaching, Slice of Life
This slice is part of the March Slice of Life Challenge on  Two Writing Teachers! #sol26. I’m slicing every day in March. Thanks for stopping by!

The neighbor asked me how my dog was
And I saw lightning as I said,
”He’s better but just on so much medicine that he hates.”
He said he was glad that Finn is back, and I agreed
“It was so scary.”
“Did you see that lightning?” I asked
And he pointed to just where I saw the bolt
”No, but I’m not surprised.”
We both looked at the darkening sky
I cajoled Finn back inside
Wondering when the real storm would start
Wondering how to do all the Sunday things
When what I want to do is crawl into the corner of the couch
A book or a movie or just sleep would be nice
I’m somehow exhausted before the week begins

March on.

Pets, poetry, Slice of Life
This slice is part of the March Slice of Life Challenge on  Two Writing Teachers! #sol26. I’m slicing every day in March. Thanks for stopping by!


March on.

March, the month spring break is always in,
doesn’t really feel like spring.
March on.

It’s snowing here, icy and cool,
a delay quickly turned to no school.
March on.

My dog is healing with medicine and rest
we are all exhausted, trying our best.
March on.

No hot water this morning, I tried not to cry
as I watched my water heater leak and die.*
March on.

March on.

*Well, I guess you could call it lucky
That I am home today,
and the plumber was available to come right away
but lucky is not exactly the word I’d like to say.

38 years and 14 minutes

poetry, Slice of Life
Part of Slice of Life Tuesday Slices on Two Writing Teachers!
Join in and write on Tuesdays!

when I was 9
the summer after fourth-grade
I moved far away
heartbroken to leave my best friend
We met, you know, when I was 3 and she was 4.
she hid in her car sobbing
while we packed the moving truck in my driveway
I rode away sobbing
kept sobbing every night of fifth-grade
that was almost 40 years ago
Would it make me seem younger if I said that was over 30 years ago?
38 years
between then and now
I moved back
we went to college together
she moved away
there have been visits
phone calls
FaceTimes
and today as I drove
14 minutes from my house
to help unpack her moving truck
here
Just 14 minutes from my house.
I wondered two things
Would it help if I could tell 9 year-old me it’s going to be okay – What’s a
few decades and miles between old friends. Also be patient.
and
hear me out here
What is it that my future self wants to tell my today self will be okay?


A Slice of Where?

poetry, Slice of Life
Part of Two Writing Teachers’ Slice of Life.
I’m writing on as many Tuesdays as I can… join me!

Where does your writing come from?

Sometimes
I catch a line
a phrase
something someone
says
or sometimes some
rhymes
sometimes
my fingers
wiggle
Wiggle?
Do real writers use words like wiggle?
Would you prefer
joggle
squirm
jiggle?
My fingers want to
write
so they move
hopping
hoping a keyboard materializes
by the time my brain realizes
how to possibly process
what made me laugh
or cry or
most
maybe most likely
made me angry
one day I’ll write about the breeze that
floats through the trees in my backyard
makes you believe those people who talk to trees
I’ll find a way to describe the bird songs so
you hear them
the way they interrupt each other
just in time
so the short quick repeating
chirp chirp chirp chirps don’t act like an alarm
but a melody
until then
I’ll just notice things,
my fingers will
joggle
I’ll write the words when
I can catch them.

What Do You Notice?

poetry

What do you notice on a spring
afternoon
after school?
Of course I noticed flowering trees
in splendid pinks that if painted would be critiqued
not realistic enough
the grass is green
It’s spring
the grass is long
I need to mow

Also the clerk at Trader Joe’s said
“Awww
I’m going to miss you-
I liked talking to you”
as she loaded my last bag in my cart
handed me my receipt
and I thought that even though my teens don’t
exactly like to chat
at least someone likes talking to me

I saw people drive by in a Volkswagen convertible beetle
top down
in the front seat was an older man
holding a wooden pirate ship
almost exactly matching one
my son got at an antique store years ago
that my other son recently took a picture of
on top of an amazon box
to use as a metaphor for a school assignment
and I thought that if someone is trying to send me a sign
with pirate ships
that is kind of confusing

On my walk through the park there was a kid
maybe eight years old
scooting his scooter around the track
staring up at the blue sky
there were clouds — but the pretty kind
He exclaimed
“This
is
America!”
at least I thought he did
I was listening to my audiobook

What do you notice on a spring
afternoon
after school?

This is April and today’s poetry was inspired by Ethical ELA’s Things to do: Write a Poem

Recess in Color

poetry

There’s so much brown mulch
Mulch stays on the ground, friends.
but there are little piles of mulch
on swings and slides
hidden in the crevices of the climbing logs
The logs are brown too
wood on wood is hard to see
but there are little piles of mulch

The gray track winds
around
crosses over the blacktop
and back down
a baby hill
Yes you can walk the track, friends.

Later we will line up to go inside,
along the black fence
For now jackets gather there
because it’s spring
Aren’t you cold, friends?
no matter the temperature they will take their coats off
when the sun is shining in April

That’s where the color starts to pop
Make sure you get your coats on the way in, friends!
purple jacket on the ground
a red sleeve
peeking out from under
a blue coat slung over the fence
a green hood
hanging on

It’s April, and I’m trying to write poetry. This is inspired by EthicalELA Color in Nature