Thursday, May 25, 2023
dinnertime rapture
Friday, May 19, 2023
in the now
Friday, May 05, 2023
remembering
to believe in myself
the buckling swirling sweetness
of time a delusion
Wednesday, May 03, 2023
sorrow bird song
she'll sing her terrible song
Pic: Such a grey day today, but no rain at least. Huck and I found all this greening when we dropped Nu off at the school bus stop. Scout would have made us late with all the things he'd have wanted to sniff on the way.
Tuesday, May 02, 2023
stay
even the deepest breaths
I could try to let you go
Saturday, April 29, 2023
long-distance relationship
nowhere is the beloved right here
never is there enough time
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
lament
Tuesday, April 04, 2023
favorite child
Pic: I've been thinking of this post from two years ago a lot. It's clear now, despite all my previous protestations, that I do have a favorite child... and Scout is it.
Thursday, March 30, 2023
2016 redux: good bones, breaking news
You've surely read Maggie Smith's poem "Good Bones," which went viral in 2016 and you should read the article she published in The Cut yesterday about how her fame led to the breakdown of her marriage. Her ex sounds like a dick--any marriage in which one spouse becomes "the staff" in the household is deeply unjust and unloving.
That aside, I was distracted by her declaration that "When I walked in the door, I was married. Mrs. When I walked outside, I was divorced. Ms." This isn't the point of the article, but where does this belief that "Ms." is for divorced women come from? I thought the whole damn point of "Ms." was to move away from the marriage specificity of "Miss" and "Mrs." I was a "Ms."since I was 14? 15? Currently, I like"Mx" best of all.
I'm in Denver with our English honorary students who are presenting at the annual international convention. At and Big A are home to make sure Nu has some fun on their Spring Break. They're having sleepovers and going to movies and I'm missing them and missing out.
Pic: The kids sent me this candid of Big A at the moment he found out about Trump being indicted for the 2016 hush money payment. Has any photo demonstrated more "fuck around and you'll find out" energy?
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
From the Dictionary of Sleeplessness
of a hundred doors and
Pic: On a day I needed kindness, waiting at my office door were kind words and a Princely present from CW--student-teacher and barista extraordinaire. I get by purely because there are so many kind and lovely people in the world who help me through this thing called life.
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
possession
Monday, March 13, 2023
a small victory
Sunday, March 12, 2023
backstories
Tuesday, March 07, 2023
two-moon day
Today was the first teaching day after break and there was a headlong quality about it. I kept remembering things I didn't get to tell students... like how much I enjoyed reading their midterms. (And also: damn, I write good exams.)
The poet Shonda Buchanan visited my classes today, and it was inspiring to see her work the room. A student who is usually quiet in the literary theory classroom was absolutely animated discussing her poetry. I loved seeing that.
I'm headed to bed in a minute and I'm just feeling so much joy at the thought that I can lie in bed and gaze upon the full moon until I fall asleep. There's something primitive (?) in me that rejoices in the sky--the night sky especially.
I saw the moon this morning when Scout, Huck, and I walked Nu to the bus stop too. Just on the basis of these sightings, I'm counting today a success.
Pic: Full moon and sunrise blush this morning.
Wednesday, March 01, 2023
turning around
Sunday, February 26, 2023
find out
The sermon today (and all February) at UU was about love. But sadly, I spent at least ten minutes fuming in an unlovely, unloving way because I heard the person sitting behind us say to my 15-year-old Nu (masked and dressed in all-black and a hoodie, as always) that if they had shown up like this three years ago, people would be calling the police and they might have been arrested. I think this person was trying to be funny, but it was a weird thing to say to teenager who was there with their very brown mother. I turned around at the end of the service to offer my perspective with "love and respect," but then realized that the person who'd said that to Nu was very old and very stooped and probably a first-time visitor (no name badge, just the "My name is" sticker) so I ended up not saying anything.
But WTF.
Anytime people mention hoodies as an indication of menace or wrongdoing, it reminds me of what a big deal people made of it when Trayvon Martin was hunted and murdered. And Twitter just reminded me that today is the 11th anniversary of his death. Now I'm mad all over again.
Pic: Baker Woods in the afternoon sunshine.
Saturday, February 25, 2023
song of forgetfulness
how it is possible to be lonely
buried in never ending seams of snow
their small calls lie unanswered
stoic, they tuck distance under each wing
Thursday, February 23, 2023
OMG/ChatGPT/Canon in D
I took a trip down memory lane earlier this week when I recalled the first time I heard Pachelbel's "Canon in D".
Then on a whim I sauntered down AI Alley when I asked ChatGPT to write me a poem based on that incident. ChatGPT obliged with the poem on the left.
It's quite the doggerel.
Which is why I don't share the moral panic about students using it to cheat on essays and exams. From everything I've seen, ChatGPT seems to tend towards the bland and the banal. I think I'd be able to tell something was off from the odd combination of impeccable grammar and tediously repetitive sentences.
Famous last words as I head off to grade midterm essays and exams...
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
snippets
things I forgot at my desk
Friday, February 17, 2023
I try to understand another mass shooting / I hope it's better where you are
44th day of the year = 67th mass shooting of the year330 million people : 393.3 million guns50,000 students on campus now - 8It's like one of those rubbishmath problems and anywayI'm so rubbish at mathmy only math quoteis from the movieMean Girls:
and what little I know cannot begin to explainthe things you kind of know and cannot saythis rapping against rumor and fearin class I lectured on literary theoryparenthetically on New Criticismthose old formalists proclaimingpoems are self-containedand self-referentialthey should notmean, butjust beas
in the morning after, those of us who've survivedcan hear the FBI and several State Policewho are are live on the radio askingin a carnival of indecision why--why did he do it, what made himwant to shoot up campusit seems a bit obliviousI want to tell themwhat I learnedto yell
what little I know cannot begin to explainthere's no math or meaning making herethe author's intention doesn't matterthe limit does not existthe author's intentiondoesn't matterthe limitdoes notexist
scale
Max is tiny; the responsibilities are huge. One forgets the massive undertaking the care and keeping of little ones can be. He's absol...

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At had us pose for this pic up at Aunt R's place on Lake Huron so he could put it up in his dorm. "Don't tur...
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Today is the birthday of the best sister in the whole world (mine:)! Happy, Happy Birthday, Chelli! [AA, my favorite aunt in the whole world...
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Friends and old neighbors shutting it down in honor of John Crawford. _