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
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?
Hello?
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.
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
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
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?
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.
Today was a learning day
a long day
a listening day
Today was a win-a-raffle day
a wonder-what-the-doctor-will-say day
a wait, what? day
Today was a travel day
a talk-to-college-daughter day
a tell-me-more-about-it day
Today was a a sit-all-day-long day
a surprise dinner with my boys day
a special-day-we-don’t-celebrate-any-more day
Today was a hump day Wednesday
a heavy day
a hello-glass-of-wine day
Today was
as they say,
a day
I’m writing every day of March for the Slice of Life Challenge at Two Writing Teachers
We were preparing for our poetry garden in Writers’ Club today, by painting some rocks with pictures. Soon we will write our poetry words on rocks, but today was about decorating a few to leave our mark.
There were just a couple paint markers that still needed to be shaken and pressed, so I did that as I monitored the painting and talked with the kids. Then I started to realize I should be writing down what they were saying. There always seems to be a story or poem hiding in the things kids say.
Rock Painting with Elementary Kids:
I need to go over all of this-the colors are very dull
My marker is too juicy
OOPS! I didn’t mean to do that.
I think I’m done
Do you have anything to add? Because this is an amazing blue.
This is one day only!
I should have done a sugar cookie
There’s interference in the universe causing problems
My dad would say “Where’s the coral?” He’s a coral scientist
What are you doing?
I’m writing things everyone says – a found poem story!
…Ugh! Teachers!
It’s a portal to another universe
A new dimension
I’m serious
This is so juicy
I want the markers so bad
I’m not saying I’m asking for one. . . but I am.
there were pancakes this morning
a walk
and the sun is pouring in the window as I write
I went to Lowes
which I hate
and got cleaning supplies which I used
it’s a good Saturday
with friends later
and even though I don’t want to, I miss you
the musings of a high school science teacher
Tales of a Doc student's readings
erratic thoughts too loud for lines
Small slices of my life, in one place!
Celebrating the Randomness of Life
On a Thought 