Heat Wave

I used to love that song sung by Martha and the Vandellas. Just thinking of it brings back long hair, granny dresses, halter tops, and Jimi Hendrix. The temperature climbed into the 90s today, making it feel like August instead of late May. Not acclimated to the heat, I found myself longing for January and the silence of falling snow instead of the bird calls and insect noises I hear these days in early morning. And that's how it is. No matter what we find around us, there is always something else to yearn for--the unreachable moment,place, relationship. The school year is winding down and I can actually think about long writing days stretching in front of me. I will continue work on my collaborative collection of poetry as well as another collection and fiction and nonfiction in process. It's all a part of the rhythm of my life--this change with the seasons. When the heat finally breaks and spring returns, I will carry the warmth within--a reminder of AM radio, ragtop cars, long days, and the thrill of two months of relative freedom from the structure of the rest of my year.

Rain and Change

The rain is a constant drumming on the tiny patch of pavement by my front door. Hummingbirds don't care, bustle by my feeder with their vibrating bee-like wings. How lush the trees are, filling all eight panes of my window with tear-drop, ovoid and lace-edged leaves. I've been reading student responses to the poems of Tony Hoagland, Natasha Tretheway, Mary Oliver. I always hope that embedded in the stress of being a student, a little glimmer happens--a particular poem touches a student who never before interacted with poetry in that way. From their responses, it seems as if this does occur. It's why I teach. A few great teachers changed my life and my perceptions though a few did the opposite. It is my goal to value every student. I cringe when I see students humiliated or told they are incapable. We are all imperfect and learning is a process that never ends. How each of us approaches a task is highly individual. I strive to make classes meaningful for students who have no desire to be writers as well as those who do. It's not an easy task to teach, competing with text messaging and email--I understand the frustration of teachers. Even in a college class, many students have outside pressures. In the years I've been teaching, I have had a number of college students who are raising children, caring for sick parents, working full-time, or coping with their own medical challenges. I worked full-time when I was both an undergraduate and a graduate student and it was not easy. I would have gotten more out of my classes and probably put more into them as well if I didn't have to make a living. People have complicated lives. I like to think of a classroom as a place for a student to relax into learning and get excited about something outside him or herself. It's good to focus outside oneself--it's how we finally grow up. It is also good for writers to look around and see what isn't easily seen; the rabbit under the hedge, a honeybee hovering over the iris, seed pods blowing in the May breezes.