Category: Uncategorized
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Day 5 – for your listening pleasure
I like to listen to music when I write, usually instrumental pieces. One of my standbys:
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Day 4 – what I’m thinking about tonight
I’ve been slowly piecing together a project about the wilderness of Chicago, both literally and figuratively. Poems focus on wild animals in the city, the landscape of the city, and the hostility & beauty of the city. Students often appear in these poems. For me, they are the heroes in a man against urban-nature struggle.…
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Day 3 – You should buy this book
Today I am exhausted. I’ve been teaching Saturday school since January, and it’s been getting harder and harder to pack everything personal into one day. My brain has been moving in too many directions and I’m having trouble focusing enough to write anything worth keeping. Thankfully, other people write things worth keeping and worth sharing.…
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Day Two – One of my favorite poems
I love this poem. I love this little video. It comes from a mini-series PBS did in the 90’s, the United States of Poetry. I have a copy on VHS; my mom taped it for me while I went to the Fireside Bowl, most likely to see something not nearly as interesting.
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Day One – a trip to the zoo, new work up at Burnt Bridge, and a deal at Powell’s
Poems up at Burnt Bridge! I didn’t know when my poems would appear here, so I was excited to see this when I visited their page. Good news on the first day of National Poetry Month! On Monday, I’m chaperoning a field trip to Brookfield Zoo. I’m really looking forward to this trip because I…
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National Poetry Month
I love that poetry gets its own month. Today I spent the day brainstorming ways to celebrate with my students and now I’m considering how I’ll celebrate on my own. I know a number of poets have taken on a similar challenge to NANOWRIMO, and written a poem a day for the month of April…
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lightning never strikes the same place twice
(video from youtube.com by Catherine Galasso) Except that it does. I’m working on a poem about lightning, about those who have been struck multiple times. The stories and the research I’ve been encountering are scarier than you would think. Roy Sullivan, for instance, was struck seven times. He finally killed himself in his early…
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a lesson from dad…
My dad is on a boat. On his boat, he has a lamp. He likes the lamp. He wrote about the lamp. The resulting poem is lovely, really. The flame dwindles as dusk arrives. I lift the glass chimney from the brass oil lamp, strike a match and night flame jumps to life. The lamp…
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Nighty-night!
Recently, I’ve been having nightmares. Bad nightmares. The other night I dreamt I killed someone, sniper style. According to the all-knowing internet, this could simply mean I’m trying to kick a bad habit (which I am, perpetually) but I think this is more likely due to the string of uplifting literature I’ve been reaching for…
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The value of imitation.
Last night, when I was trying to fall asleep, a few insistent lines came to me. I jotted them down & read them over and at first, I was pretty satisfied with myself. Then I realized that what I had written had more than a little resemblance to Ellen Bass’s poem, Relax (not in ability,…
Elizabeth Joy Levinson 