Elizabeth Joy Levinson

Maybe I’m just grouchy because I’m dealing with identity theft or because spring break is coming way too late this year, or maybe it was the six or so hours that Duotrope was down this morning, but I think I’m experiencing a poetry meltdown.  I worked with several classes today that were writing partner poems and their reliance on clichés just about did me in, as it always does.  I’ve noticed that students often think that clichéd phrases are markers of good poetry, they look for the recognizable.  I’ve struggled with this.  You can try to “teach” it out of them, but you can’t always change what someone likes.  And I’m not sure that I would want to try.  I will try to share some poems that are different from what they are used to.  And I will try to help them unlock those poems.  Hopefully, if they can learn to enjoy the game, they will push their own work further.

This weekend the air is supposed to heat up and I’m looking forward to getting into the garden, moving some strawberry plants, harvesting compost, prepping the vegetable bed.  Hopefully, some good old-fashioned manual labor will help me come back to the page in better spirits.