Photo by Aja Riggs
Today I was in a meeting with a colleague when H. burst through the door clutching a piece of looseleaf paper. We stopped our conversation to see what she wanted, and for her part, H. looked momentarily stricken. Realizing she’d just interrupted a meeting in progress she sheepishly backed out of the [...]
Amidst a cloud of hearts and stars drawn in blue ballpoint pen ink, H. has written the following inscription on the outside of her poetry folder:
“Where My Hurt is Poetry”
Ah. Alchemy.
Walking from my car to the front door of the school where I teach, I saw my student, H. standing on the corner, smoking a cigarette and talking to one of her friends. Nothing unusual about that; there was time before the start of our first period, and smoking policy restricts their habit to certain [...]
Photo by Aja Riggs
I’m losing my voice – the last punishment meted out by a long, stubborn cold.
As miserable as this disability makes me, I know it is good news for my students.
I have learned (slowly, painfully) that the less I lecture, the more they learn.
Mothers Day is around the corner – and if you haven’t bought a card yet, don’t bother. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not adverse to honoring our mothers. I’m all for it. (Ask my daughter, she’ll tell you.) But let’s face it, Hallmark just doesn’t cut it. The Poetry Lady, of course, is a bit [...]
It is time to venture into the garden again. Each spring I try. I plant, I weed, I prune, I water … well, okay, sometimes I water. Not nearly enough, I admit. The point is, I can’t grow anything. And when things do bloom, they die prematurely. Like the lovely white and yellow tulips that [...]
