Funny, it's been almost a year since I've written in this space. Even after all that, I'm still going to hesitate, and be a bit of a chicken about trying to journal again. Behind the cut there's an assignment I've written for class (I'm finally, after many a pause, going back for a Master's in teaching) concerning a soundtrack for your life. It' ( Read more... )

...that today was my first day back at grad school. For now, I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum from poetry; this degree actually involves science (gasp, horror of horrors ( Read more... )

The guy at Mcdonald's was incredulous. "You want a large drink. And a large iced coffee ( Read more... )

Sat. 7/28-- the pre-birthday party with friends and family, and for probably the first time for everyone, the friends' kids. i take a picture with a gathering of six and dub them my mormon family. it is good, and good to see a peace, a settling, over one of my friends as he holds his child ( Read more... )

Now Henry is unmistakably a Big One.
Funnee; he don't feel so.
He just stuck around.

--Berryman, Dream Song 7

I am becoming thoroughly convinced that years from now we will look upon Edward P. Jones as one of the great writers of our time, specifically his short stories. He's a master of the devastating clause, that final turn at the end of the sentence which nails past and present (he's great at scope), and also heartbreak or small joy. I'll throw some ( Read more... )

My new philosophy on life:
Don't let 'em catch you ridin' dirty.

Regrets

I will die a quiet death,
not one of pomp, or ridiculuous circumstances.
No acrid fog of gunfire; no dangled limbs
and spilled hair in a gauzy after dinner glow,
from the woman I’d been seeing, on the side,
and her husband’s thick fist and flint swerve
of a tire iron, an almost orchestral movement,
his conductor’s grace, beautiful and ( Read more... )

I want to live different lives, in different places. A year at a time. Half a year. A month, a week ( Read more... )

( Read more... )