Category Archives: poetry

Be Still

March 26, 2024poetry, Reflections on coaching, Reflections on teaching, Slice of Lifeonathought

I’m trying to be
Still. But,
my teacher brain got turned to max
and I can’t really dial it down.

I don’t mean to be dramatic, but
I’ve got to get
organized
I tell myself this every few minutes
before remembering that
I have
no
idea
what
I’m organizing for

Who knows where I’ll be
who I’ll be
what I’ll be
how I’ll be
but,
still.
I look at everything with my
teacher eyes.
I took a mini plastic magnifying glass off of a soap dispenser and kept it.
Just in case
I need a mini plastic magnifying glass in my classroom.

Still.
I need to be still.
I don’t know who I’m collecting things for.
Speaking of things I don’t know –
I should probably reread every teaching book
I’ve read over the last 7 years with a new
lens. I’m calling
this lens,
helping myself.

Can I be my own coach?
To try, I will need to
listen to myself
stand by myself
question myself
advocate for myself
stretch myself
grow myself
give myself grace

(And if you see me
talking to myself,
you’ll know why…)

I
still
have time
Months actually
4 full months
Still –
Once the teacher dial has been dialed up, it’s really quite hard to dial it down
and be still.

Whether Your Weather

March 24, 2024poetry, Reflections on coaching, Reflections on teaching, Slice of Lifeonathought

March is going
out
like a lion
this year
and I’m not talking about the weather

Two weeks ago someone asked me
What’s your weather?
and I said, it feels like a
storm
is brewing.

So maybe my new job
should be
fortune teller
My crystal ball tells you whether
your life will be this or that

Today at TJ Maxx
we saw a card
you are the teacher the world needs
it said and we had to decide
whether to laugh or cry

Whether your weather
is outside or in
lamb or lion
we can only choose to
March on

Saturday Poems

March 23, 2024haiku, poetry, Reflections on coaching, Reflections on teaching, Slice of Lifeonathought

6-word
Saturday goes quickly, thankful for Sunday

Haiku
Chore filled Saturday
Clean house, cold dog walk, Target
Mind full of unknowns

Limerick
There once was a mid career teacher
Who wondered what decisions would reach her
So much had been discussed
She didn’t know what to trust
Since trust was no longer her best feature

Rispetto
Friday night, Saturday on the horizon
Expectations for accomplishments, no less!
Then Saturday dawns, reality flies in
Do only priorities – no extra stress!
It’s the weekend, you know you deserve to chill
If you don’t take time to rest, you’ll soon get ill
Vacuum, laundry? Sure. But, big projects can wait
You need to rest, and wonder about your fate

Naani
I wander the book aisle
Stare at the titles
Wonder
Which books will I read to my class next year?

Sunny Sunday

March 18, 2024Family, poetry, Slice of Lifeonathought

A sunny Sunday
might remind you that
even a
short
walk in the crisp air
surrounded by blue sky and
trees still winter-brown
near the cold water
is like a breath of
spring

it
won’t
be winter forever

it won’t

and most importantly,
even teenagers
need
to skip rocks

Questions (for you, IF you’ve ever been a teacher)

March 12, 2024poetry, Reflections on coaching, Reflections on teaching, Slice of Lifeonathought

You know how when you
Know better you
Do better?

I’m just wonder if after that,
knowing new stuff and
doing that new better stuff…

What happens?

Because
someone is sure to tell you to
Know a
New
thing …
Would doing that new thing be
even
better?

What if the new better thing is now actually the old thing you did before you knew better and did better?

I know what you want to tell me.
It starts with an Re
ends with a search

Okay! I’m in!
Research …

That means we will be using
peer-reviewed research for
all
the
things, right?

Hello?

Sunday Poems, on the End of Spring Break

March 10, 2024haiku, poetry, Slice of Lifeonathought

6-word
Spring break’s over, Sunday scaries begin.

Haiku
Sunshine breaks Snow squalls
Blue skies deceptively cold
Clouds come again now

Limerick
There once was a teacher feeling nothing but dread
She couldn’t get organized for the week ahead!
Work was the right thing to do –
She’s supposed to do it too –
But she watched a movie instead

Ballad
Though spring break is ending
And work will start so soon
I can’t help but keep relaxing
So these last hours won’t’ be in ruin

Elegy
O break! My break! My spring break is done
The relaxing is over now, our freedom reduced to none
I am resigned to set alarms, drink coffee still in a sleepy fog
and I’ll go to work with a smile, walking the halls instead of my dog
But O couch! My couch!
Where in the corner I love to read
I promise I’ll be back, since more relaxing I surely need

Ode
Ode to Spring Break

We anticipated your start
and now regret your end
roadtrips filled our heart
and relaxing was our best friend

Your days were full of warm sun
until the rain, and today’s snow squall
It’s like the weather knew you were done
And spring break’s spring never happened at all!

Spring break, Could you stay another weak?
It’s just a small, polite request
A tiny bit of scheduling, a calendar tweak
That would surely be the best

It’s just because I love you
that I’m asking you to stay —
Or send a big storm, it’s the least you can do
and they’ll have to call a snow day.

Too Late

January 30, 2024Pets, poetry, Slice of Lifeonathought

Part of Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life

It’s too late to slice
It’s too late
There’s no time to tell you
even a
seed
of a moment

I was going to tell you about the girl who exclaimed,
You have an UNO lunchbox?
and I had to dissapoint her by showing her that no, it was just a lunchbox that says POW!
She had been so excited
And now I want an UNO lunchbox

Oh – and there were the boys
lined up
perpendicular to the recess door
like a race starting line
a few minutes before the whistle blew
jut waiting
What time is it?
they yelled after I asked them why they didn’t want to
enjoy the last few minutes of recess
It was 1:59

But it’s too late now
Too late even
for those mini moments

I can’t write about how I was going to go to bed early
but my to do list said
Nope
Nope
Nope
Double Nope

And now my dog is curled on the couch
squeezing me in
and there’s no time to tell you
even a bit about his wrinkly neck

Free write

January 20, 2024poetry, TeachersWriteonathought

I’ve been doing free writes with students for a long time, decades I guess.

I’m now at the point in my teaching career where I can say I’ve done something for decades, I guess.

But I am terrible at them myself. I am an in-the-moment-editor. I am a sharing kind of writer.

But my therapist says that free writing is a good way to help myself let go of anger.

Not that I don’t have some perfectly good reasons to be angry, she assures me.

It’s just that whole pesky thing about how anger only hurts your own self.

So she gave me directions, and I typed them in a note and now I think they are a poem. And not just any poem, but one that may help just about anyone who has a few minutes, a pen, some paper, and any emotions they want to let go of.

Free Writing
The first rule
Is that you can’t censor yourself 
At all
It’s all over the place
Absolutely no censors
Ignore the censors
Just write whatever comes out
What’s written down is 
simultaneous

Second rule
You have to write 
Not type 
Keep your pencil moving at all times
Don’t stop the pencil
If you don’t know what to write, scribble 

Do this for about 10 minutes
No erasing
Grab 10 sheets of paper
Set a timer
And just start

If you stop to think
You are censoring

Then sit with yourself 
Afterwords

After
Words

It’s Not Just Acorns

December 13, 2023poetry, Slice of Lifeonathought

A day late, but part of Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life

Sometimes the acorns are crunchier under foot than other times
ever put your foot down expecting
the crunch
but instead all you get is a mushy bend?
I think about you every time I see an acorn though
especially as I decide to risk the bendy failure
try the crunch

One time you asked me where I got my grey fleece coat
said you wanted a fleece like it
that would cover your butt
so when I put that coat on today
I thought of you
it has a broken zipper now —
on my list to get fixed

TJ Maxx
that’s where I got it
but I don’t think you ever found one
I don’t know
it was a long time ago
and you ran out of time
for fleece jackets

Not to make it about me, but
how strange to have such a good friend through such different phases of your life
die
before the next phase of your life
how odd to have someone
gone
before the arc of your friendship got a chance to continue

Sometimes I think
wow
you never knew that happened
you weren’t here for that crazy time
you were gone before that changed
you didn’t get to see that he turned out to be an asshole
then I realize you probably knew
-know
all the things

It’s naive
I would be
naive
if I thought these were fresh thoughts
about death and grief
I’m not
naive
I know I’m
lucky to have not known more
grief

You used to read my words and email back
I wonder what you would write for this
you would say
amen
well-said
and by the way the arc is still there, friend
let’s walk and crunch acorns together
also, get that zipper fixed – want me to take it in to the place that fixed my zipper in 2005?

I closed my eyes
thought what if you can just
ask for someone’s spirit to come?
I thought of you, said your name in my head
and I wondered if you were sitting on the edge of my couch
but I didn’t want to open my eyes to check
is that faith?

March 24 Roses are Red and Other Inspiring Poems…

March 24, 2023poetry, Slice of Lifeonathought

I’m writing every day of March for the Slice of Life Challenge at Two Writing Teachers

Roses are red
Violets are blue
I don’t feel like writing
Sorry, but it’s true

There once was a writer who was tired
She wasn’t feeling at all inspired
But it was the month to write
So she didn’t fight
She just sat down and did what was required

In six words, I am done.