Day 4

the good soldier
april 4, 2009

with the benediction of the sun
he resumes the war against nature:
border skirmishes beneath the buddleia,
invasive weeds exterminated with
extreme prejudice, preemptive
strikes in the raised beds
with limited collateral damage.

as the evening cools and the sun
averts its sympathetic gaze,
order has been restored,
victory declared, and an
uneasy peace briefly reigns,
though he can’t help but hear
laughter in the cawing of the crows.

I guess I should have added "post poem"

The Teacher’s To Do List
April 3, 2009

1) Write a to do list –
begin with the big stuff,
leave the little ‘til later.
poetry takes precedence over
prose, lovers before friends,
leisure before labor.
be sure to cross off
“write a to do list.”

2) Clean desk –
with one swift swipe,
wipe the whole pile
into the dustbin.
serious work awaits,
and a flat surface is essential.

3) Grade papers –
be parsimonious
with praise. don’t waste
precious time on
what’s written well.
we’re here
to build better writers,
so be constructive, be
constructive. be constructive!
but never use red ink,
which wounds the eyes
and sears the soul.

4) Remember to eat lunch –
put down the pen,
set aside the essays:
your colleagues await
you and your wit.
a good joke is far more
nourishing than the leftovers
in your lunchbox.

5) Don’t nap –
lunch sits heavily
in your belly,
the busy day hangs
heavy on your brow,
but do not submit,
do not surrender.
hold the book steadily,
hold your head high,
and when your eyelids
finally sag, dream of
a job well done.

6) Hit the copier –
with both hands.
shatter the glass,
crack the plastic,
scatter the toner like birdseed.
leave a trail of
blackpowder footsteps
so everyone knows
you were there.

7) Go home early –
leave the papers
and the lesson plans
behind; there is work
to be done at home
as well: a garden
to be tended, a family
to be hugged, a meal cooked.
and another to do list
to be written tomorrow.

Day 2

springsong
april 2, 2009

raindrops dance
on the tip of my tongue

scraps of music cling
to the heel of my shoe

flecks of grey sing
in your eyes’ blue skies

and the Conductor hides
in the whistling breeze

Here We Go Again

An Old Record Drives Me to Work
April 1, 2009

It’s been a decade,
maybe more,
since this tombstone shadow
stepped across my path,
but I still know
every lick,
every groove,
every riff and jive
as surely as I know
this long, gray
drive to work.

These pinched blue notes
tickle my fingertips,
itchy against the
steering wheel,
and coil themselves
deep in the bayous
of abandoned synapses –

Suddenly I am sixteen again,
lovesick, forlorn,
and dreaming of
an open road.

When I'm not furious with her, I am endlessly charmed and amazed by my daughter. Does that continue always, I wonder? Or are teenagers never charming?

Anyway, we had a blank board book and a baby shower coming up so Wrigley wrote and illustrated this book. Baby Springer almost missed out. Ed really didn't want to part with this book, but I told him I'd photograph it for him.

Seasonality

A couple of years ago when I did Project 364, I discovered that taking a picture a day really does improve my photography immensely. It also means I get a nifty little record of simple happenings in our lives. Last year I loved being able to go back to the photo from the same day of the previous year and see what was goin' on. The project also exhausted me. While I can click away like mad and take 150 photos in 1/2 an hour (you don't think those where-is-the-natural-light-horseback photos were obtained in just 6 clicks do you? oh no. 150), I do not enjoy sorting and processing the photos (just about all the photos get the at least the gray digital haze washed away in photoshop. My interest in photoshop is limited, so I don't actually do a whole lot, but still, it is an immense time drain). Last year I practically only took photos when we left the house to do something interesting (camping, hiking, beaching, mostly). Then it might take me months to put any pictures up on flickr. I was tired. And the backlog of material was dispiriting enough that I left the camera home a lot.

But, last month, I finally cleared out all the photos in my pending file. My camera felt light and free again (it actually isn't light at all. It weighs just shy of a ton). So I'm taking pictures. I plan to go again for a photo day, but this time in shorter bursts, 4 weeks each season. It might turn out that I have something to say about each one.



So check in every few days and see how our season is going.
Seasons each in 28 days (Click each photo to see it larger and for my narration)
Main Flickr page, because I'll be taking my camera everywhere and you wouldn't want to miss shots of the grocery store.

2008 Book Recommendations

I read 55 books last year (including 2 I abandoned. Life is too short to stick with books that aren’t engaging). 4 of these were classics, 4 non-fiction, 22 young adult, and 4 kid lit (that I didn’t read aloud).

The notes below are notes from right now. Notes from when I read the book and the rest of the books I read this year are all at Good Reads. The links below are clickable.

The 5 Stars:

Olive Kitteridge: A Novel in Stories Strout, Elizabeth – This is my big recommendation. Excellent excellent character development, and I have never before so much loved reading such a disagreeable character. Three cheers for fantastic writing.

The Hearts of Horses Gloss, Molly, More excellent writing here. Molly Gloss is an Oregon writing who Ed and I both quickly snatch up as soon as she puts out a new book. I must admit I hate the title. Don’t let that stop you from reading this one.

The Pesthouse Crace, Jim – I have a soft spot in my heart for apocalyptic novels and it seems I read a bunch of them this year, but The Pesthouse stands out. I liked it better than The Road which I also read this year and I also liked.

Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal Peet, Mal Tamar

is categorized as Young Adult, but I don’t know that it belongs there. The narrative is setup as a teenager on a quest or a bit of a wild goose chase for details regarding her grandparents' histories in WWII. Chapters alternate between a page turning WWII Dutch spy story and the modern day unfolding of the consequences of that spy story. Well put together.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret Selznick, Brian. Kid-Lit. This story won some awards, and also received some serious criticism for being a little thin on substance. Okay, maybe it was a bit thin, but it is a heck of a good tale laid out in narrative and pictures in a way I’ve never experienced before.

Some 4 Stars:

The House at Sugar Beach: A Memoir Cooper, Helene –African memoir. Cooper comes to some great conclusions about her privileged (for a time at least) childhood. And it is now fun coming across her byline in the NY Times every so often.

The Sparrow Russell, Mary Doria – Science Fiction isn’t exactly my thing, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like some of it. This is fantastic and thoughtful. I also read the sequel, which is also pretty good.

The Senator's Wife Miller, Sue I don’t remember the Senator’s Wife’s name, but I liked her.

Astrid and Veronika (Let me sing you gentle songs) Olsson, Linda - The tales of two women who shut themselves away from society and find friendship in each other. (okay, sounds a little lame, but it’s good).

Cowboy: The Legend of Colton H. Bryant Fuller, Alexandra –(non-fiction) As it turns out I love Fuller’s writing. Here is a story about a guy I would normally have zero interest in, and her attention to his life and what happens to him makes for a great book. Ed had some quibbles with this guy as a sympathetic character, and I guess he’s right, but it’s still a great story.

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia Gilbert, Elizabeth – (non-fiction) I know lots of people who read this book and usually thay all hate a section, but love the rest of the book. They all hate different sections, mind you, so I guess it is a book with something for everyone.

Blankets Thompson, Craig – On the recommendation of a friend of one of Ed’s coworkers, I decided to dip a toe into a new genre - graphic novels. This was pretty good, but I haven’t pick up any more. I am now able to understand, though, what people are talking about when they discuss graphic novels and how they tell a story differently than other books. If you have any interest in checking out graphic novels here seems to be a good place to start.

Young Adult:

Sweethearts Zarr, Sara Here is a case where I read an author’s first book and I say to myself, hey, that was pretty good, I’ll bet the next one is even better. This is an excellent 2^nd book.

Chains Anderson, Laurie Halse – This just won an award for YA historical fiction. A far more accessible, female version of Octavian Nothing. Both are New England revolutionary slave fiction. They center on the oxymoron that all men are created equal except for black people. Very good.

Paper Towns Green, John

While the central female teenage character is a bit of a cliché, Green has interesting things to say about shallow lives. Also, the book begins and ends with great road trips.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Alexie, Sherman Won last year’s Printz Award (? I can’t remember which awards, and I’m not going to look it up). Excellent and funny and hard all at the some time.

Ghost Boy Lawrence, Iain – What happens when an ostracized albino teenager in the 1950’s joins a failing circus. By the way, he doesn’t join as a freak show feature.

1.20.09

... whew ...