jeans

i found myself on the floor
in the form of a pair of jeans
and i picked myself up.

It’s morning and I smell sage
Ants floating over pebbles
Aspen leaves wink
Water rushes down a bathtub of a stream
My stomach is empty
Hair stringy and clumped
The aspen are still flaunting themselves like sideshow carlot advertizing schemes
My little boy asks, what are you writing?
The time I tell him.
He shrugs his shoulders, hmmph
And he leaves.

poem dedicated to the art of being stopped at a light

you become a kid again
all that waiting around puts you in tune with the world:
hot stale sun, buzzing grass...
i can start my engine now but the way back to my ole self is gone.

Notes on teaching
To be a good teacher, you have to…
- Have nice breath
- Look people in the eye when they speak
- Ignore people who are speaking while somebody else is speaking
- Listen to people who are speaking while somebody else is speaking
- Respond to people who are interrupting somebody else only if they are really contributing something worthwhile to the conversation
- Ignore the troublemakers unless they are truly more like funmakers
- If the troublemakers are just being troublemakers because they are insecure, ignore them until they do something positive and worth rewarding by giving it attention
- Basically being a teacher is like being a parent
- Or being a good human being
- It’s hard to be a good teacher
- There are plenty of times I want to crawl in a hole and die
- But when it’s good, it’s good… like sex
- And when it’s bad like bad sex, it hurts
- When you’re teaching and you’re in the moment, in the groove, energy is given and taken freely in the room, creativity happens, learning for everyone takes place including the teacher
- When you’re not in the moment, or you’re in the wrong moment, it’s a sucky place to be
- How to get back into the right moment? Take a deep breath. Switch gears. Call it like it is. Think positive. Keep moving forward. Don’t beat yourself up. There’s always another curve to go around down the road. Nothing stays the same. Don’t get hung up on it. drink some coffee. Ask THEM a question. Get the heat off of you for a while.
- If you forget that you’re teaching and you’re just being… that’s when you are the best teacher of all.
- And if you get them to forget that you’re teaching, better yet still.

the birds chirp
the babes are asleep
and i woke up to hear the kind of quiet you only hear after a night of weird dreaming

the air is clearly light
my body is rested from flight
and my mind is full but ready to be poured onto the page

Every few months, I hit a wall.
It’s solid.
Very solid.
I know I’m at it when I stop talking.
And the tears start rolling
But even more than that
My feet become molten leaden
And I have no desire for nothing
And I start moving slower and slower in space
Until I start backpedaling
Faster and faster
And faster
Until going backwards becomes fun
And I thumb my nose in the face
Of every other face I worshipped as inconsolable
I become irresolute.
And I am happiest that way.

quiet

quiet
there are people who can stir up the muck in your head
and there are others who can calm it down

i am glad
for both

one is not better than the other
although most people would try to make you think so
including myself

i can hear the birds' wings flapping in the air
even from behind my closed window
that... was a gift of a surprise.