Thursday, September 05, 2019

Whine and Poetry

I was feeling pretty good after the long weekend... rested, more on top of things.

And then this week happened. My calendar shows me leaving work a little early every day this week.

Tuesday was Petunia's regular art class. I have to leave work early to get her to that class. That's the usual schedule, but it isn't usually on my first work day of the week!

Last night was 7th grade back to school night. Just like last year, it was a bit chaotic and took roughly twice as long as advertised. Also, the fancy air conditioning system in the middle school building is programmed to run only until 4:30 p.m. The teachers could override that and turn on the air in their room, but everytime the door opened, it shut off.

I don't normally mind the heat, but it was 85 degrees in those rooms and there was no air movement. I was trapped with other parents who were trying to understand the schedule used on the one day each week that is a half day... and it was past my dinner time and I was hungry.

Let's just say that I was in no mood to do anything when I got home. I still don't understand the schedule they use on half days, but my 7th grader does and that's all that really matters.

Tonight was the 4th grade back to school night. It was shorter and the air conditioning worked, so I managed to make it through half of yesterday's to do list.

Tomorrow is the back to school picnic. I'll stop work early for that, but on the plus side, I don't have to feel too bad about that because I'll also start work extra early tomorrow - I have a 7 a.m. meeting to call into! Wheeeeee.

So anyway, my plans for the week turned out to be a bit over ambitious. I thought I'd be writing up a post about our vacation in Prince Edward Island tonight, but that is not going to happen. I am going to go to bed instead.

However, I do have a request for my readers: I want recommendations for poetry! I have started reading a poem or two or three before bed most nights, and I really like the habit. I've read three books so far:

Good Bones, by Maggie Smith
Why I Wake Early, by Mary Oliver
Counting Descent, by Clint Smith

I need another book! Tell me about your favorite poems and poets in the comments. I'm trying to prioritize living poets, but as you can see from the above list, that is not a firm rule, so all recommendations are welcome.

4 comments:

  1. Niloofar Fanaiyan Leylines and Cedars is her last book, i think. she writes in english, and sometimes farsi

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm not too much of a poetry reader, but I've enjoyed Billy Collins' work (try Sailing Alone around the Room) and Nikki Giovanni. I also recently enjoyed "Power" by Adrienne Rich and have been meaning to read more of her work.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jericho Brown and Kaveh Akbar are poetry superstars.

    There are plenty of less known poets on Twitter whose work I enjoy. Todd Dillard is excellent, David Hanlon, Bola Opakele, Arielle Tipa. David Hanlon is worth following on Twitter as he's really active in showcasing the work of others.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Also maybe Ada Limon? http://adalimon.com/books.html

    ReplyDelete

Sorry for the CAPTCHA, folks. The spammers were stealing too much of my time.