Sunday, January 31, 2016
Friday, January 29, 2016
At Close
Waves lap
at the edges of the evening
claim me
in programmed high tide
Come close to breaking
over the shore
a scream or a chuckle
the coil of sleep or serpents
_
at the edges of the evening
claim me
in programmed high tide
Come close to breaking
over the shore
a scream or a chuckle
the coil of sleep or serpents
_
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Perhaps, an Astronaut
How is your day going?
It's difficult to tell.
I imagine you up there
starlight as nightlight
watching sun and moon
rise together cheek by cheek
I imagine the brain
swelling in delight
even at old age
remembering easily
the children and their kisses
as they easily remember me.
_
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
In Attention
Sky is a tangle of broadcast
snow messages
unspool on the windscreen
up there the moon
opens up
undressing,
wisp by wisp.
_
snow messages
unspool on the windscreen
up there the moon
opens up
undressing,
wisp by wisp.
_
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Monday, January 18, 2016
Moms Are Sooooooooooooooooo Embarrassing
The kids had the day off due to the weather, so I brought them and the young von Ws to the college for an MLK Day performance by Sojourner Truth Community Theater.
I was happy to smirk at At when he turned a worried face towards me when they started singing "We Shall Overcome." And Nu whispered in F von W's ear (presumably about the day before).
And then I was wiping away tears to "I have a Dream."
Happy MLK Day to me.
_
I was happy to smirk at At when he turned a worried face towards me when they started singing "We Shall Overcome." And Nu whispered in F von W's ear (presumably about the day before).
And then I was wiping away tears to "I have a Dream."
Happy MLK Day to me.
_
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Moms are Embarrassing
There was that moment when everyone was singing "We Shall Overcome" and my stupid face dissolved into silent tears. My sweet kids on either side of me didn't look too embarrassed, and actually helped me make sure I didn't have streaks before we walked out.
It's just been such a long time, you know--and here we are, still working on overcoming the same crap.
(Later in the evening, At did say the next time I bugged him about something, he'd call me "Church-weeper" so there's that.)
_
It's just been such a long time, you know--and here we are, still working on overcoming the same crap.
(Later in the evening, At did say the next time I bugged him about something, he'd call me "Church-weeper" so there's that.)
_
Monday, January 11, 2016
Saturday, January 09, 2016
Thursday, January 07, 2016
Tuesday, January 05, 2016
Monday, January 04, 2016
Sunday, January 03, 2016
Saturday, January 02, 2016
Friday, January 01, 2016
Thursday, December 31, 2015
The End
They'll be home from YS soon
And then night comes
or falls--depends
on whom you ask
Time to wrap babies and burritos
while birds dip their wings
in sunsets
and vanish
_
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
In Transit
the body remembers what it used to do
escapes as blithe as a toddler
no experience, no accomplices, no plan
only the trail to the door
like the first moment in the water when
my body seems soluble
held so sure and certain
then gone in a glint of sun
_
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Monday, December 28, 2015
Saturday, December 26, 2015
Christmas Quartet
The kids gave me presents that blew me away.
Nu brought home a healthy recipe book (standard school issue parent present) in November when we had no holiday wrapping paper yet. She made this to wrap her present in:
At got me this because my RBG tee was fraying:
Nu gave me an extra present (because she loves me best of all!). It's a chocolate countdown calendar! (And she teamed it with a bag of chocolate she got her dad to buy for her.)
And Nu kept her creativity going by making the puppies a play yard:
My four kids are simply the best.
_
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Friday, December 18, 2015
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Monday, November 30, 2015
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Meet the Parents
Student event this evening, and the stories they've shared hang around my interactions with their families.
The man with the twinkly eyes lost a child to cancer.
The woman so proud of her daughter's accomplishments is herself a daughter struggling to help her elderly mother stay independent.
So awed by how wonderful and brave people are.
_
The man with the twinkly eyes lost a child to cancer.
The woman so proud of her daughter's accomplishments is herself a daughter struggling to help her elderly mother stay independent.
So awed by how wonderful and brave people are.
_
Monday, November 09, 2015
Sunday, November 08, 2015
Saturday, November 07, 2015
Fairness
At was at the XC Varsity event (filming the Girls' team). I stashed Nu in the UU kitchen, and worked the break room with coffee machine, creamer, and cookies for the homeless 'intake.'
And it was all brave, tidy, and everyone trying to be cheery.
But the family with the backpacks--perhaps the cheeriest of all--was the nub. B joked to the kids that there wasn't room on the bus and they'd be walking; the older one quipped, Again?" They didn't want to play card games but took turns on the phone. Got cookies when mom left the room for a smoke. And I wonder one more time why people like Donald Trump get to have so much cash for their tasteless crap and others don't have enough.
__
And it was all brave, tidy, and everyone trying to be cheery.
But the family with the backpacks--perhaps the cheeriest of all--was the nub. B joked to the kids that there wasn't room on the bus and they'd be walking; the older one quipped, Again?" They didn't want to play card games but took turns on the phone. Got cookies when mom left the room for a smoke. And I wonder one more time why people like Donald Trump get to have so much cash for their tasteless crap and others don't have enough.
__
Friday, November 06, 2015
Frieda
Sometime between ages 16 and 21…
First I fell in love with Ted Hughes. Then I fell in love with Sylvia Plath. Then I hated Ted Hughes, while being mildly annoyed with Sylvia Plath. Then I took to raving against Hughes, and if you mentioned Plath's name would break down in angry tears. Then I pretended neither of them existed while reading their poetry secretly.
If that sounds exhausting,* how much more exhausting to be those intense, talented people, constantly under scrutiny and the pressure to perform.
Love Frieda Hughes' interview in which she talks about her parents. And I've come a long way from being that impressionable and emotional teenager who took everything personally, but still needed to hear this:
"To me, as a child, my father seemed to blame himself for almost everything. It was awful. A child does not want to see their parents suffer. Thousands of people all over the world every day split up, thousands of people have affairs. Not everyone kills themselves."
* Yes, it also sounds nerdy, but everyone knows that already.
_
Thursday, November 05, 2015
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Monday, October 05, 2015
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Nu-Sensical
Nu hasn't eaten her lunch--a wedge of Tortilla Española from dinner the day before.
Because: "You didn't pack me a fork!"
But: "I ate everything else! Even the sour cream for the tortilla. Although it wouldn't come out and I had to use my fingers."
It's a good thing then that FB sent me a great memory yesterday.
_
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Monday, September 21, 2015
I forgot...
...I was being filmed for a documentary on rape culture and showed up at work with workout hair and in my non-teaching uniform.
But it was a productive conversation, and I was so outraged by my own talking points that I forgot my customary camera wariness fairly quickly.
_
But it was a productive conversation, and I was so outraged by my own talking points that I forgot my customary camera wariness fairly quickly.
_
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Friday, September 18, 2015
Up, Up and Away...
This post caught my eye on the sidebar this morning, and I got a little choked up. We don't know where At's friend R is or how he is.
And my own At--the champion of cuddles and calm, sometime spotter of grocery cash, constant companion--is now 16.
Sixteen. Still a champion and companion, but a grown up one. One who has plans to go away for college (no more: 'I'm going to live in the basement'), a critical thinker who questions my social justice outrage (more: 'is that the best way to convince people?'), still somewhat wiser than his years (A lot of: 'Jesus, Mom! I told you not to engage in arguments with hate groups!').
And clearly more comfortable with swearing--and every aspect of himself--every day.
I am so incredibly proud.
And so unready.
_
Thursday, September 17, 2015
And on the Teen Clockmaker...
They never thought he had a bomb- by Andy Illes
I said: it's sad they thought that kid had a bomb.
She said: they didn't think he had a bomb.
I said: yes, they thought he made a bomb and even called the police.
She said: They just wanted to humiliate a little Muslim, African boy. They didn't think he had a bomb.
I said: Don't be a conspiracist. They might be a little prejudiced, but I'm sure they thought he had a bomb.
I said: Don't be a conspiracist. They might be a little prejudiced, but I'm sure they thought he had a bomb.
She said: Ok.
But they didn't evacuate the school, like you do when there's a bomb.
They didn't call a bomb squad - like you do when there's a bomb
They didn't get as far away from him as possible - like you do when there's a bomb.
Then they put him and the clock in an office- not like you do when there's a bomb
Then they waited with him for the police to arrive.
Then they put the clock in the same car as the police.
Then they took pictures of it.
I said: Damn
They never thought he had a bomb.
They never thought he had a bomb.
From here:
_
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Almost...
Pic courtesy J C-D
All I can think of is the poet Kambar
talking about how magnificent
young Rama's shoulders were:
*
"Thol kandar; tholey kandar!"
"Those who saw his shoulders,
saw only his shoulders!"
*
(Those shoulders--so perfect,
no one could look away AND
so broad that they never got around
to completing the act of looking)
_
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Remembering
The way she says, "forever"
makes it sound like a long word.
She's never heard of "never"
it falls behind her mind's hedge
The sun peers into my eyes
today, the way she used to--
Tugging my eyelids open
saying, "you're awake now?"
_
Monday, September 14, 2015
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Friday, September 11, 2015
Hero
Among all the stories circulating around today,
this was the one that made me cry (first).
The story of the last living
And the 2,976 American,
48,644 Afghani,
1,690,930 Iraqi,
3,500 Pakistani,
victims
_
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Ode to August
Memories of mud
of being handled
by sun
Peonies peeling so
dense, opulent,
blushing
Earth unevened by
legions of night
travelers
I rule lying in wait
waiting to be
caught
Until, we ourselves
O love, are unruly
habit
_
of being handled
by sun
Peonies peeling so
dense, opulent,
blushing
Earth unevened by
legions of night
travelers
I rule lying in wait
waiting to be
caught
Until, we ourselves
O love, are unruly
habit
_
Wednesday, September 09, 2015
Some Mornings
The sky is full of faces
we greet them
at breakfast
While the wind fumbles
sighing, tired
at the door
_
we greet them
at breakfast
While the wind fumbles
sighing, tired
at the door
_
Tuesday, September 08, 2015
Monday, September 07, 2015
Illusion
The day may never end
its intimacy with salty
kisses
As if I'm someone else
reading backwards--
breaks
_
its intimacy with salty
kisses
As if I'm someone else
reading backwards--
breaks
_
Saturday, September 05, 2015
Friday, September 04, 2015
Thursday, September 03, 2015
Sunday, August 30, 2015
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