Proclamations

I like how one week after a proclaim I won't be lame about my blog anymore, I do just that: be lame about my blog.

Sigh.

So, here's some thoughts. Enjoy.

I heard recently from a poet friend about someone he knew who made a poem out of all of the comments he'd written on student essays.

Brilliant! Love it!



While this isn't a poem yet, per se, this is a list of my favorites I have written:

The term "colored" is outdated and is steeped in racism.
Your mother is not a scholarly source.
Please refer to your MLA handout. Please.
You have a handout that tells you exactly how to do MLA. Please use it.
Yes!
Please review your timeline. The Civil War was nearly 100 years before the Civil Rights Movement in America.
Martin Luther King, Jr. wasn't involved in the Civil War.
I'm not making this connection here ...
Your argument gets a bit convoluted here ...
I agree!
Strong thesis!
Your thesis reads unfinished.
Enough with the rhetorical questions.

On cooking:
I feel that I am a hit-n-miss cook. I can make one hell of a meatloaf, nearly any pasta dish, and something my family calls "pizza loaf." Usually, if I am in my own kitchen, I can put together a pretty delicious meal with whatever is in the freezer and spice rack. I have trouble cooking chicken whole, however. I usually burn the hell out of it and am only just now learning that everything doesn't have to be blasted over high. I've been on a roll this week, I think. I made a lovely homemade chicken/artichoke/alfredo pizza a few days ago, and last night, I made this great basil/tomato/chicken/feta dish served on toasted bread brushed with olive oil and parsley. Mmm mmm .... Sometimes, though, I really suck. Like, I can ruin pots and scorch stovetops and set off the smoke alarms.

On that stupid Levi's commercial that degrades an awesome Whitman poem:
What, you don't have a job? Or classes to go to? You probably have an essay to write and you're running around a bonfire shirtless. GD Levi-wearin' hippies ...

On my lit students:
They are smart. Like, scary smart, and it's the dudes who have really stepped up to the plate. They are presenting on poetry this week and last, and they are breaking out the hard stuff: Shelley, Bukowski, cummings, Rossetti, Yeats, Dunbar, Whitman. And they are just laying it out for us, like bam! I heart them.

On my new career as a potter:
Yup. A few more lessons and I'm gonna hit the street sales circuit.