SOLSC 3.31.2012: March Madness

Okay, well, I haven’t been writing this week. I’m going to play the CANCER card because I’ve felt like hell all week. Turns out, the third round of chemo does NOT do a body good! Much more tired and many more bone aches this time. I know, I know….there’s no excuse, Steph…you take on a challenge, you should complete each day. All I can say is, I’m sorry — and I hope my acrostic poem brings joy! Until Tuesday, my peeps (Promise!!).

March Madness

My writing may never be the best,

And sometimes I post a little late.

Right now, though, all I

Can think is

How much fun I have:

Sharing my stories…

Or reading other bloggers’

Life-moments… and

Seeing another March

Close.

 

SOLSC 3.22.2012: Coolest Poem

I know it’s not Friday, and not April, but I received the BEST poem in my email today from “Poem A Day.” Here it is:

Superheroes as 2004 Volkswagen Passat: A Double Sonnet
by Bruce Covey

The Invisible Woman is the windshield.
Mr. Fantastic is the wiper fluid.
The Thing is the tire.
The Human Torch is the spark plug.
Spiderman is the antenna.
Storm is the ignition coil.
Rogue is the crank shaft.
The Punisher is the exhaust pipe.
Captain America is the hub cap.
Quicksilver is the oil.
Rogue is the gasoline.
Psylocke is the catalytic converter.
The Hulk is the cylinder block.
She Hulk is the mount.

Mantis is the manifold.
Ms. Marvel is the muffler.
The Scarlet Witch is the instrument panel.
Iceman is the cooling system.
Wolverine is the hood.
Colossus is the camshaft.
Banshee is the horn.
Polaris is the voltage regulator.
Silver Surfer is the rearview mirror.
Powerman is the bearing.
Phoenix is the powertrain.
Emma Frost is the hinge pillar.
The Vision is the fuse box.
Black Widow is the brake.

**************************

I think this is a poem I can share with my students next year, so they can see, like Fancy Nancy, that a poem can be about ANYTHING!! I don’t know allof these superheroes, but the ones I do know, the metaphor hits the mark. The ones I don’t, I can draw conclusions about their character, then look them up to see if I’m right. Or, I can choose a superhero and create my own poem/metaphor…or do something like this with family members.

Crap….I need to start writing!! 😉

 

SOLS: Who Knew?

**Just a warning: if you’re offended by talking about body parts, you might want to skip this one…;)

It’s been six weeks since I became breast-less (see my previous post for background info). In that time, I’ve cried, pouted, and , yes, laughed. Not MUCH laughing — just when I try to talk about my boob-less state. I’m not in a place mentally where I’ve accepted that I’m really going through this ordeal; however, I think I’m doing a decent job most days using sarcasm to mask my fear.

Surprisingly, I don’t really appreciate the loss of my boobage. I mean, sure, I wanted them to be perky and in the same place they were before I had kids — or got somewhat old. But who goes “Yay, sure, I have cancer, but I get new boobs out of it!”? The fact that when faced with a mastectomy, women are automatically offered reconstruction, tells me that I’m not the only one concerned with this issue (I really didn’t think I was anyway). For the last several weeks, I’ve noticed how these particular body parts have impacted my life. So, I thought a song would be fun for today. A song to sum up the feelings of one woman trying to cope with a new life as a breast cancer statistic. And, like all good reading lessons, there are vocabulary words to preteach:

* nits = LilyBelle’s word to describe me now (NO + tits)

* foobs = the term I use for my prostheses; however, I may have to give them “real” names (FAKE + boobs)

*noobs = the term for what happens after my reconstruction (NEW + boobs)

* tit-fill = the term to describe the procedure my plastic surgeon uses to fill the expanders with saline; this happens before I have the implant surgery

I Miss My Boobies (Sung to “Oh, My Darling, Clementine”)

Oh, dear boobies. Oh, dear boobies,

Oh, dear forty-four double Ds

You are lost and gone forever

Oh my dear boobies.

 ~~~~~

In the middle of December,

A mean old doctor sliced you off.

And now I’m lost, lost, lost without you,

Oh my dear boobies

 ~~~~~

I never thought too much about you

Only how my clothes looked bad,

Just because you were always sagging

Oh my dear boobies

 ~~~~~

But now I know what all you did to

Help me out all through the day:

Hold the seatbelt, keep me balanced,

Oh my dear boobies

~~~~~

When Lily needs to be comforted,

You’re not there to lend a hand.

All that’s left me are some stupid nits

Oh my dear boobies

~~~~~

You’ve been through a lot in such a short time

It must be hard to end up as waste.

Spending your time gettin’ tit-fills

Oh my dear boobies

~~~~~

Are you jealous when I wear foobs?

Is that why they hurt so bad?

You’ll be replaced with perky, cute noobs.

Oh my darling boobies

~~~~~

I miss my boobies; I miss my boobies

Can’t the doctor give them back?

Well I guess he really is, just

Not the real ones hangin’ ’round!

 

Steve Jobs: What I Want My Students to Know

I’ve collected just a few pieces of text to help you know the man who essentially created the world you now inhabit (that’s a $100 word for live in!).

As you read through and listen to these voices of goodbye, think about what a person’s legacy means.

What will you leave the world? How will you have made it a better place?

I found this image to capture how I feel about Jobs’ impact on the company he founded, was fired from, and ultimately brought back to life.

Steve Jobs dies at 56; Apple’s co-founder transformed computers and culture Steven P. Jobs, the charismatic technology pioneer who co-founded Apple Inc. and transformed one industry after another, from computers and smartphones to music and movies, has died. He was 56.

How have these mourners identified with the community that Jobs created?

I thought I knew a lot about Steve Jobs…until I read this infographic. How does the author show you Jobs’ biography? What fact surprises you about a person who is filthy rich?

Infographic: 15 incredible facts about Steve Jobs | Articles Reading these will make you appreciate his accomplishments even more.

Reactions to, and condolences for, Jobs’ death….

“	“Here”s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The ones who see things differently. While some may see crazy, we see genius.” -Steve Jobs
	WestWingReport October 5, 2011

“	It’s touching to read the many kind words for #SteveJobs. His vision helped me become the tech geek I today. #RIPSteve #ThankYouSteve
	jenleereeves October 5, 2011

“	Steve Jobs will always be remembered. A visionary, a leader, a pioneer and inspirer. #Apple
	GoogleSeattle October 5, 2011

“	Steve Jobs dies and the entire world finds out/tweets/texts about it on the devices he created. That’s not a bad way to go.
	mworch October 5, 2011

“	I never thought I could be so busted up about the loss of someone I never met. #stevejobs
	aplusk October 5, 2011

“	It is moments like these that makes everything else seem so insignificant. Think different. Change the world. 
	nickf October 5, 2011

This is a speech Jobs gave in 2005 at Stanford University. As you listen, think about why he organizes his thoughts into a series of three stories. Write about them and how you can apply what he’s learned about himself to your own life.

Read the following poem (it’s one of my favorites)…Write your thoughts about the poem, but also, connect it to the death of Steve Jobs,  and to your own legacy. How would you answer the last two lines of the poem?

Poetry 180 – The Summer Day Today’s poem holds that the act of attention is a form of prayer. Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper?

Read the tribute poster, then design one for yourself. What are mottos or virtues you live your life by? How do you want to be remembered? What will your impact on the world be?

**If this is a little on the morbid side for you, design a tribute poster for someone you know or for a character from a favorite book/story.

**Alternate: Design a living tribute poster to yourself showing how you need to “stop letting other people’s voices drown out your own inner voice.”

 

Friday Poetry (4.29.2011)

I found this poem in my email this morning…”A Book Said Dream and I Do”  by Barbara Ras……When I read it, I knew that the poet was speaking directly to me. Opening the door to show me why I love reading. And, sadly, raising the window of why I can’t seem to write fiction of my own…..(Don’t cry for me, Argentina!!!)

Here’s the poem:

A Book Said Dream and I Do

  by Barbara Ras

There were feathers and the light that passed through feathers.

There were birds that made the feathers and the sun that made the light.

The feathers of the birds made the air soft, softer

than the quiet in a cocoon waiting for wings,

stiller than the stare of a hooded falcon.

But no falcons in this green made by the passage of parents.

No, not parents, parrots flying through slow sleep

casting green rays to light the long dream.

If skin, dew would have drenched it, but dust

hung in space like the stoppage of

time itself, which, after dancing with parrots,

had said, Thank you. I’ll rest now.

It’s not too late to say the parrot light was thick

enough to part with a hand, and the feathers softening

the path, fallen after so much touching of cheeks,

were red, hibiscus red split by veins of flight

now at the end of flying.

Despite the halt of time, the feathers trusted red

and believed indolence would fill the long dream,

until the book shut and time began again to hurt.

 

It’s National Poetry Month!!

Okay folks….it’s April, and officially Nationally Poetry Month!! What does that mean, you ask?? Well, basically that I get to bore my readers to death with love poems–haha…..Nah…seriously….I think I’m going to try the April Poem-A-Day Challenge. But, seeing as how I’m already 4 days behind, I’m not sure how it’s going to go!!

Feel free to help me out!

Day 1 Prompt: write a “what got you here” poem

The Old Datsun

You and I had some good times, didn’t we?

You coughed and sputtered and jostled, didn’t you?

You found the path to Boiling Springs

And periodically sprouted wings,

especially when we were running late!

You only needed a little love, didn’t you?

You didn’t like it when you ran all day, did you?

You just needed a little water, but alas,

I killed you with  my wandering glance!

(haha…This is for my first car, a blue, dingy Datsun. It hardly ever ran right, especially because I didn’t know I had to put water in the radiator!! haha…)

Day 2 Prompt: write a postcard poem

RVing

Just writing to say

The sun’s smiling our way

Just arrived at the first stop

We’re teetering on the mountain top!!

 

Day 3 Prompt: write a poem in which you imagine the world without you

Seriously Missing…

The day started out just fine until

We noticed that no one cared about reading

Or if we could blog

Or whether we sat on the desk tops.

What happened to her, seriously?

She up and walked away, and it’s something we’re

Sure we had a hand in.

Of course, it could have been some dude named

Mar Zan Oh.

Seriously??

OMG…That totally SUCKED!!!! haha…Definitely needs a rewrite!

Day 4 Prompt: pick a type of person and write a poem about him or her

The 4 Year-Old

Her mass of curls snakes out like Medusa’s threats

She comes undone with ants and other insects

Just today, she could barely walk

Because her ankle was scratched and red.

Her Barbies, nomads with no home

Clutter up each room, resembling the bones

That the dogs love to chew (They’ve only done that once!)

A giggle as light as air lifts your spirit

No matter if you only hear a snippet.

But don’t let her know you just found

A black bug  flying around!

Hmm….this one might have promise….The only one so far, I think!

 

SOLS — 3.18.2011: Super Moon

Today’s a Poetry Friday poem…Tomorrow night, the moon is suppose to be closer to the earth, so it’s going to be HUGE!! (Here’s the CNN story: Weekend Full Moon). I love the moon–I love noticing it in different phases and learning different names for full moons. I’m pretty sure that I’ve passed this not-obsession of the moon to Jakeypoo and Lilybell. They both go through periods where they call my attention to the sky if I haven’t said something to them first (Okay, well, Jakeypoo hasn’t said anything about the moon in a while. Aren’t all 18 year-olds too “cool” to notice things with their mommy??).  Anyway, I remember that even as a little girl, I was always amazed that the moon “followed” me no matter where in the world I was. And tonight, I’m four hours away from home, with the suckiest Internet service in the world, making a wish on the moon outside my window…It makes me nostalgic and sad and hopeful. Here’s what it looks like tonight (I can’t wait until tomorrow night!!!)

And, I found the most amazing poem by one of my favorite poets….Just what I needed: another story idea for a novel I probably won’t write (but because I thought about it, SOMEONE will write it–at least that’s the way my friend Somer and I think of it!! haha..). Enjoy the poem:

who knows if the moon’s…

e.e.  cummings

who knows if the moon’s
a balloon,coming out of a keen city
in the sky–filled with pretty people?
(and if you and i should

get into it,if they
should take me and take you into their balloon,
why then
we’d go up higher with all the pretty people

than houses and steeples and clouds:
go sailing
away and away sailing into a keen
city which nobody’s ever visited,where

always
it’s
Spring)and everyone’s
in love and flowers pick themselves

 

SOLS — 3.11: The Journey (Poetry Friday)

I received this poem in my email this morning, and, because I’m a Mary Oliver fan, I thought I’d share it. I also found a YouTube video of MO reading the poem, and I’m moved again. This is one of my favorites. It not only describes how I feel about my younger years growing up poor in a small, podunk town–with nothing going for me except I was decently smart and could go to college–but it also shows the battle we’re having as educators. At what point do we say to heck with all this and get out? I’m really hoping I can keep up this pace and outlast the crazies who are in charge right now.

The Journey

by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save.

 

Poetry Friday (2.11.2011)

i know it’s not VDay yet, but it’s past time for a poem and OMG!!!! this is the BEST valentine’s day poem EVER!!!!!! enjoy, then tell me what you think….

How to Change a Frog Into a Prince

Anna Denise

Start with the underwear. Sit him down.
Hopping on one leg may stir unpleasant memories.
If he gets his tights on, even backwards, praise him.
Fingers, formerly webbed, struggle over buttons.
Arms and legs, lengthened out of proportion, wait,
as you do, for the rest of him to catch up.
This body, so recently reformed, reclaimed,
still carries the marks of its time as a frog. Be gentle.
Avoid the words awkward and gawky.
Do not use tadpole as a term of endearment.
His body, like his clothing, may seem one size too big.
Relax. There’s time enough for crowns. He’ll grow into it.

from The Poets’ Grimm: 20th Century Poems from Grimm’s Fairy Tales, 2003

 

A Friday Poem

dear jake,

you make me quake

and think it a mistake

to want you grown

and on your own.

i know your life sucks

the fam doesn’t have big bucks

mommy’s got big boobs,

and daddy’s got lots o’ tools,

but you’re just left with rules

and lily’s leftover drool.

we all miss you when you go East

and all communications cease

you don’t really have to be alone, though.

you could be someone’s beau

you could get a job making lots of dough

or at least a pizza…or…cake!

the long and short is this:

the only way to bliss

comes from within, NOT without.

and i know this beyond doubt!!!

love,

mom.