Category: Uncategorized
Panning for Gold
keep on working patiently sifting to see the water needs to be a little more pure the mud is still stirred the bottom still obscured keep on not for the gold but for the water IMAGE: Fool’s Gold (mica) that I panned from West Point Lake in 2017 Continue reading Panning for Gold
A prayer for reason
Beauty disarms kindness does not own hope arrests love knows and un-knows go into mystery trust what you find life gets weird when reason’s left behind reason is great reason is fine but not if it’s built on foundations of lies. We must use human reason but remember its woes our reason slaps boundaries wherever it goes wherever it needs them to think it understands but the measures don’t exist except in our heads. human reason assumes a solid place to stand a true way to measure the lay of the land to weigh the importance of each measure’s facts … Continue reading A prayer for reason
Endgame
Angle up or angel down We don’t look side to side around We say we’re left Or that we are right We don’t see a foot in in front or behind We just look for endgame. Let us not rush through as if it’s all win or lose It’s not. If you want to win in the end, sorry, your greatest fear is true… it IS all “pointless.” There are no winners. No losers. We all go back to the same earth. The endgame is an illusion. Success is hollow if you’ve gutted people to get it. Success becomes an … Continue reading Endgame
Whitewashed Tower
You live in your tower And earn your keep While we toil beneath you Waiting for sleep We knew you in old times When teeth were still white You told us to work for An end to the night You left us to slave here You left us behind You left us no warning You left us so blind You said you would help us You said that you cared You throw us a bone some And laugh when we’re scared We miss you we see you Up there all shining We love you we need you You have us … Continue reading Whitewashed Tower
She
She’s not homeless today. She has a one-room place and a landlord who notices if she uses more water. She’s on her usual corner Encouraging her cornermates with kind words chiding them lovingly about not doing their part to pick up their trash. Today is a few weeks after the cop ticketed her For “aggressive panhandling” as she leaned on her walker at the corner and told her she should just go and die. Today her place seems big and empty and hers It’s months since she opened her home to her corner-mates Four women and a cat in one … Continue reading She
Part of me leaked out today
Friday, 8. March, 2019 As I was trying to leave to go to work today, my nose began to gush blood. I stood in the kitchen with a roll of paper towels, watching my life force drip into the sink. I stared at the erythrocytes bright red with oxygenation. I wondered about my white blood cells. Were they thrashing around trying to find some enemy to defeat, still living and moving in the red gush? How long until they realized they were no longer part of the organism and gave up? Were my platelets trying to coagulate, even though there … Continue reading Part of me leaked out today
are humans smarter than animals?
Today’s journal prompt was about the ways in which we are smarter than animals, and the ways in which they are smarter than us. Here are some results from my 7th and 8th graders: WAYS HUMANS ARE SMARTER: “Better technology.” “Complicated buildings.” “Written language.” WAYS ANIMALS ARE SMARTER: “Animals don’t judge each other.” “My dog knows what I’m saying when I ask him to take a walk. But I don’t know what he is saying when he is barking. Maybe we just don’t understand their language.” “One thing that is better about animals than humans is disagreements; humans fight and … Continue reading are humans smarter than animals?
Rosenmontag; Art as Protest
I teach middle school, y’all. These kids are full of energy and potential action; they need to be actively taught how to deal with life’s travails, not taught to avoid all discussion of the Big Issues like religion and politics, as my generation was. The way to do this is NOT to show them footage of horrifying things and shame them for not caring enough. (I learned this the hard way). It is to give them ways to engage with tough information, then show them ways to direct their frustrations and energies in constructive rather than chaotic ways. Karneval/Fastnacht in … Continue reading Rosenmontag; Art as Protest
The Nothing.
from facebook, February 15, 2017 After decades of struggle with depression, I have spent the past year coming into a sense of personal peace. I felt for many years that I was standing on a tiny, shrinking island of safety in a boiling tar pit of nothingness. I was unconsciously holding onto my privileged, unrealistic delusions from childhood, and the cognitive dissonance was destroying me. I was trying to escape from everything and everyone, thinking that if I could just stop the stressors, I could be safe from the Nothing. One beautiful day last spring I took a long lunch … Continue reading The Nothing.
“I smell you.” Meditations on the Simpsons and True Detective.
In an episode of the Simpsons, Lisa is trying to figure out why the bully, Francine, attacks some victims and ignores others. Through a series of experiments she finds that Francine does, in fact, smell fear, and then attacks her nerdy prey as a hawk would. As a middle school teacher, I can attest to the truth of this. Bullies can smell fear like sharks smell blood in the water. Bullies are needy humans; what they need, first and foremost, a sense of self-worth, so they don’t have to suck the blood of others to get it. I can sniff … Continue reading “I smell you.” Meditations on the Simpsons and True Detective.
taking water for granted
March 2, 2019 some of my students were calling each other ghetto yesterday a flow of words coming through the door scrutinizing hair and clothing for signs of poverty then we watched Lion , and they saw the ghettos of Calcutta they asked why people washing clothes in the river why that boy wore the same thing every day and I told them how so many people don’t have running water hundreds of people bathing, pooping, washing clothes, all in that same river and my students’ flow of words slowed. ***** When I got home the water was out workers digging through … Continue reading taking water for granted
People need to be seen and heard, y’all
March 1, 2019 Your attention is valuable. Yes, you. There is someone in your life today who would really value your listening ear or undistracted eye; someone you can learn from. I met an interesting older gentleman today at the coffee shop. He talked of his mother, who he calls a queen of Kinloch. She died sixteen years ago. He was wearing a warm hat and nice glasses. He is gay. He is diabetic and has a number of other ailments. He showed me his medications in his backpack. He said that the doctor said he needed to take better … Continue reading People need to be seen and heard, y’all
Words are like fossils
There is a relationship between written words and fossilization. It is taxidermy of an idea. Words that have ossified can lose their meaning. Words work best when spoken and heard directly. They carry more of the original meaning. We all know about the game of telephone, which ends up with wild misinterpretations of the original. It is so, to a lesser extent, with almost everything people ever say or write. You could also liken it to making a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy; or of a cassette. It eventually gets blurry. We all have had misunderstandings over text … Continue reading Words are like fossils
Robot Birdies and Shapeshifting Buzzards
September 1979 My little birdies cheep so soft that no one else can hear them. They live in a box under my dresser, and when I get them out sometimes there are four but today there are five. I am holding them so carefully so nothing can hurt them while I am checking on them. Rusty comes in and sees me sitting on the carpet by my dresser so he knows what I am doing and he grabs my hands and claps them together hard and says “ you smooshed them!” But I said “Those are the ROBOT birdies you … Continue reading Robot Birdies and Shapeshifting Buzzards
Misha’s Ceremony
Chapter 1. (novel in progress) Misha examined herself in the looking-glass, frustrated. Her cheekbones were too long and bony, like the rest of her. The powder could not quite cover up her sun-damage. More than ever, she felt like her face was not her own. Misha was fourteen today; the Passing Ceremony would happen to her. She was so grateful Karenina was there to help her get ready. Even though Karenina had to manage all the girls, Misha felt that the kindness in Karenina’s hands was a bit more for her than for the others. Probably because Karenina knew the … Continue reading Misha’s Ceremony
The Taxidermist's Youngest 