http://beta.blip.fm/home?reblipId=30551148

What's all this blipping about? It's a music site. I wanted to share an Irish version of Silent Night, performed by Enya, but it didn't work, and you've ended up with the Bee Gees singing "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?" Maybe it was meant to be, for somebody. My mama loved this song, anyway.

http://beta.blip.fm/home?reblipId=30551148

New Poem for Christmas 09

Martha Stewart Says This is the Year for Homemade Ornaments

So, five days before Christmas, our cat, Belle,
in her carpet tower
Cleans herself, occasionally pauses to stare
At the crackling flames in the fireplace
That the chimney sweep has said we “almost use
Too much.” We ignore that advice, my husband and I,
know our stockings
Are hung with care and the bright sun promises
Yet another day of doing whatever we want, since
He is unemployed and I am on vacation, and we
Will buy more firewood with our savings. Kitchen
Timer lies unused, I make homemade ornaments
From decorative paper, old magazines, the wine catalog,
Even Rorschach images we made with my daughter,
from small tubes of oil paints I found lying around,
on notebook paper unprepared as canvas. We see the psycho clown,
Witch’s hat, woman with barbells, pirouetting couple,
Note how well they fit with origami animals stored long away
In a box but brought out to shine on this our Christmas present,
Christmas past, Christmas future.

Spin the Wheel

What do I want to do with my life?
I want to bring happiness to others.
I want to create memorable art (but I don't know what kind of art --- will it be photography? collage? poetry? a collection of essays?
I want to appreciate the gifts that others bring into my life on a daily basis --- to be able to recognize and name those gifts and then to express my gratitude in a clear, concrete, and vivid way.
I want to be lean and mean --- strong physically, full of energy but able to relax when I want to.
I want to go to law school.
I want to make amends for hurts and repay debts.
I guess I need to get to work on this list.

Notetaking: Top 5 Tips

Notetaking: Top 5 Tips

I just discovered this blog post today; it is very useful for college students.

Letters to My Daughter

Of all the things to have on my mind today, at the end of the semester, when I probably should be grading something, I'm surprised that it is this: my daughter is going to college, and I want to be sure to write regular letters. I'm wondering what I could find to write about on a regular basis that might be interesting. I can send poetry, of course --- the good stuff --- James Weldon Johnson, "The Creation: a Negro Sermon"

And God stepped out on space,
and He looked around and said,
"I'm lonely, ---
I'll make me world."

And far as the eye of God could see
Darkness covered everything,
Blacker than a hundred midnights
Down in a cypress swamp."

I could write about the excellence of that imagery --- the completeness of it, the depth. I could remind her of the time we went to Congaree National Park and saw the magical cypress swamp forest. It was like Lord of the Rings, I said, and it was, with all the cypress knees that looked like gnomes. That will make me think of the Congaree Indians, and the fact that I don't know much about them, which will make me want to look them up in a good book --- and then I guess I can write something about that. In fact, I want to look it up now. So here's a related website:

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/siouan/congareehist.htm

One provocative thing I've already learned about the Congaree:

"In 1693 the Cherokee complained that the Shawnee, Catawba, and Congaree took prisoners from among them and sold them as slaves in Charleston."

Okay, got to take a break and will think and write more about this later.

Fire Escape

What a great July 4th --- family and friends, good food, laughter, fireworks, and great music.

"Love makes the price good enough to want to pay --- don't make the hurt go away ---- fire escape ---- all that I can do is ache ---- you've gone away."

Third Shift Blues

Third Shift Blues (poem I wrote this morning)

She was smoking a Black and Mild at 4:30 a.m. at Waffle House
When I spotted her and thought she was absolutely perfect
For a photo, black and white --- coffee skin, tattoo above breast, resigned.
Standing to go, she raised her arms, the shirt slid up, and I saw
That her jeans were unfastened and unzipped for comfort;
She fastened them to complete the dining experience,
coming full circle like a smoke ring leaving the full lips
Like a prayer to the god of crispy bacon and coffee, straight up.