Giving me life...

These Joe Biden memes are the only bright spot right now.
At is compiling these on a subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/JoeInTransition/

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An Hour of This

On the way to work today.

Thankfully, kid school was canceled

so I didn't have to juggle drop off

with office hours.

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Knock-Knock

As she dawdled over breakfast (as my kids do err'yday)

she told me that when I had knocked on her window 

to let her know "snooze" time was over

and that she needed to *wake up now*

the knocking had become a part of her dream.

(Someone was showing her a script 

that had the words: "No, No, No"

And as they read it, they thumped the desk.)

P.S.

This photo is apropos of not much

but I keep it on my desktop

and it makes me smile.

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Royal Blood

Story 1

After the parade with the other homecoming "court" families, I took the rained-on grandparents and younger sibs home to dry off, while Big A went to his night shift. So... At was all by himself when he was "coronated" as homecoming king. The video his teacher posted of the "coronation" makes me sad--At's standing all alone while all the other kids have at least one family member there. 

Story 2

I've been getting out of puppy poop-picking up and other gross family chores by jokingly claiming that I have royal blood via the padma vellama Dorakanti heritage. I don't believe in all that B.S., obviously, and I was merely being facetious. But I didn't realize how seriously the youngest human in the family was taking it until the day A asked Nu to do her "peasant" chores and she rounded on him savagely and lashed out: "Yeah, Dad! I get it from *you*." This happened at least a year ago, but we're still laughing every time we quote it.

And that's it. Two stories connected tenuously by the theme of royal blood/me being awful.

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New House; Same Folks

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Yeezy love

The pink Polo shirt is a nice literary reference :).

A List

I hear you
empty hands,
open mouth,
at my back

I watch till all
the anger boils,
pops, peels, and
I have no choice

but to face you.
I fill my lungs
with screams,
devour the day.

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New House

The trees tense like a tide

tunneling the sky's ocean

tree skin like coins peeling

from Lakshmi's lotus hand


Their roots keep buckling--

letters unpinning addresses

grow lichen hair, to honor

bodies/words not yet here

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The Ladies Finger

Don't know how I first came across it, but I love this blogzine--irreverent, honest, charming, and pathbreaking. It seems to be written and produced in India, but it's a great read for anyone with transnational feminist sensibilities.

First-Day-of-School Picture

Today, I dropped them off at school,
And later today, their picture makes me
look for them--a limp forerunner of our future

On Facebook,
it's people swearing (like with &%$# words)
how unbelievably big they've gotten

It's people remembering the 17-year-old
as a two-year-old clutching my hand
by the elevators

I want to lie down in the middle of my office,
close my eyes, and try to remember for myself
the years that are now ghosts

I swear they're the same from day-to-day
nevermind the stranger interpretations
my camera conjectures from year to year

*

Does this nonsense end?

Prehistoric Massacre Hints at War Among Hunter-Gatherers

"The bones at the lake, in northern Kenya, tell a tale of ferocity. One man was hit twice in the head by arrows or small spears and in the knee by a club. A woman, pregnant with a 6- to 9-month-old fetus, was killed by a blow to the head, the fetal skeleton preserved in her abdomen. The position of her hands and feet suggest that she may have been tied up before she was killed."

It reminded me of the open of the second season of The Leftovers, a show I watched religiously, helplessly, piteously-sometimes asking the family to be extra kind to me because I'd be watching it that day.

Après le diner

It's not much, really.
But, I can tell

our week's dinner
from the small aches

the burns and scalds,
and nicks they wrought.

But it is the half-eaten plate
that brings heartache.

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Ommm Grrr Ruff!

My loves have been barking at the 

Bodhisattva all morning.

Enlightenment ain't easy.

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Taxonomies

There are many types of dragons

but only three basic groups. (Nu)

Happy as a Clam

sculpting these at the Gender Symposium today.

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On your mats...

Gender Diaries

TL; DR

I ask: Have you wondered...

Student replies: not before this class.

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First Rule of Cousins' Club

It's always time to jump on beds.

(Cambridge, MA)

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Baby's First Business Trip

It was difficult to have At 

at the BPA state finals in GR

and be all the way in Boston ourselves.

We teased him about the Tucker Carlson bow tie

He cited Bill Nye.

He wins.

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ACLA Hotel (2016)

Kinda panopticon/Big Brother/

creepyyy af

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College Visit

Only One Alma

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Only Love

The Farmhouse, Nashville.

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Wishes (Jacob Philadelphia)

I've stashed this picture in so many folders...

that on my birthday, the kids printed it 

off the internet again (Sorry, Pete Souza)

and stuck it a frame for me to hang.

I'm fine with a third term.

If you need more: Why I Created #ObamaAndKids

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Selfie Twister

Selfie Twister

on my birthday

(Picasso's pink phase)

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Motto

I'm so Cheesy

While talking to a student
whose thesis work is
a term late

I encourage her
to make it better,
to tweak her game-

-it's a home run!
you're in the home stretch!
(She's one of our softball players.)


*

Après le diner

It's nothing, really.
But, I can tell

our week's dinner
from the small aches

the burns and scalds,
and nicks they wrought.

It is the half-eaten plate
that brings heartache

*

I may never say this again...

For the second time in as many months
I had a poetry reading

First at the MLA meeting in Jan
And today at the college

I'm a bit aghast at this unseemly
and narcissistic frequency

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"Innerview"

We talk about
diurnal longitudinal
repositories of
emotional artifacts

one of which is
curiously draining
out of my brain
and into my curriculum

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The Odds...

What I wanted to say

when 

the student disputing 

their course grade

realized 

that I did everything 

ethically possible to help.

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A New Generation of Hope

Nu's very stern letter to Gov. Snyder.

I didn't think her line, "This is the last time I'm telling you,"

would be conducive to a dialogue.

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Elections 2016

This or that--
I'm running away or
slowing/throwing down

in uncanny dashes
to interpret patches
of plaster and verse

But words in my mouth--
a delicate wheel of anger
will--still--demand love

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Ride Home

O.K.
Actually, 

just needed it

to tidy my office a bit.

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Hell Yeah!

What type of feminist (or anti-feminist) are you?

(Take the quiz. Do it! Do it!)

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The Drop-off

"Later."
Their bodies hurtling
planet-like
in entangled orbits
of school, activities,
space

Till they return just in time
still the same
slightly changed
don't go
(don't die)
don't grow (so fast)

The passing touch
of their known hands
surges, deluges,
cracks open my heart.
I've never been easier to love.

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This happened

I want to drop all the things I carry

I want to touch everything

Is there a world

under the snow

I want to know it

9:00 p.m. (Older Group Cuddle)

Scout took my lap,

so At took my feet.

(The younger ones

go to bed at 8:00.)

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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

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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.

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In Attention

Sky is a tangle of broadcast
snow messages
unspool on the windscreen
up there the moon
opens up
undressing,
wisp by wisp.

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Standing room only

As we speak up for Flint.

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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.

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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.)

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Such a Great Feeling...

When you find the perfect textbook

for your students

(and you're thanked 

in the Acknowledgements)

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It was like I Hadn't Been Gone All Week...

Reunited.

Best Shot

I was happy to see this

in Austin, TX.

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First Independent Journal Article

I hadn't realized it was out yet!

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Resonance

The in-flight magazine 

reminded me of 

my own little comic

who likes the story of 

Carol Burnett tugging 

on her ear

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Contentment

The nicest thing this last month

has been NuNu reading to *me*

She finds books her classroom discards

Then follows me around the house,

Reading, emoting, so intently.

I think I'll remember  

The Shoeshine Girl always

The Chalkbox Kid forever. 

(I want to.)

-

The Talented Triplets

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Nodes

There're ways to do this
where dreams are choral
and my eyes are wings
florescent with words

And if If I gave you three dollars
and 75 cents, how far away
is the train at 50 m.p.h.
carrying all our songs of want?

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Bottu Puppies!

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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

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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


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No More Snow

I did this yesterday.

#ProudAndSore

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New Book

Nu started writing 

(yet) another novel. 

The title makes me 

giggle 

every

time.

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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.

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Santa-Hat Triptych

NuNu designed and made these Santa's Hats based on something a class mom brought to their Holiday party... We improvised with some Pinterest help...




And the next day, she taught her brother too.

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The Beginning of the Alma Season...

Her family makes these ornaments,

and the awesome student 

(whom I've never had in class)

gave me one.

Aw!

I turned into an embarrassing 

blabbering mess of gratitude.

Gah.

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The Best Snuggler

...and smiler too.

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So Much Finals Craziness...

But as one of my students who colors for relaxation, reminds me:




I appreciate how Rosie is especially BROWN in my honor :).

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Post-Thanksgiving Cry

Found this in Nu's backpack

and the last item on the list 

made me a little weepy

so I Whatsapped it 

to my poor mom

and made her cry.

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The Face of Thanksgiving

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Most Improved XC

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Moar Diwali

Diwali Party at the C's

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Happy Deepavali 2015

Gor antha deepam

Konda antha velugu

(a sliver of flame

a mountain of light)

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