Run Off

Amy and I ran the Cascade Run-off yesterday - 9.3 miles. I finished, and I didn't walk any of it, so I'm pleased. I was, however, last in my age group and finished before 10 other people. But 9.3 miles is pretty far. I'd like to run a half-marathon next. But not a marathon!

Laura started her Rock and Roll Camp for Girls this morning. Max has a new crew cut, thanks to Michael. It looks good!

This weekend we are going to the beach for the Moore Cup, and next weekend we are going to Seattle!

The term at Washington State is almost over, and I have a few papers to grade.

My sunflowers are blooming. They are already showing back to school ads, but I'm ignoring them. August is still summer, and it's not even August yet!

Zanni is on her way to Squaw Valley, and Janine is driving back to Iowa. I'm here - and it's hot out!

Martina!

Laura and I went to see Martina Mcbride in concert last night. It was a great concert!

Michael, Laura, Max and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean yesterday. I enjoyed it. I can't remember enough about the first one to compare the two of them.

Yesterday we also went out to breakfast - we woke up and the power was out!

I read Steve Almond's latest short story collection this weekend, The Evil B.B. Chow and Other Stories. My favorite story was about a boy who hits a kid with a baseball bat - which sounds awful, and it is, but the story was told well. I read My Life in Heavy Metal a few years ago. I know he's written a novel with Julianna Baggott, where they take turns writing letters back and forth - as characters in the novel.

Tomorrow Laura starts a week of Girl Scout camp - it's a day camp, and she's a program assistant this year. Friday night the P.A.s get to spend the night.

I have many green tomatos on the vine!

Prairie Home Companion

Laura and I went to see Prairie Home Companion tonight. It was $4.00 Monday at Cinetopia on Hawthorne. I liked it a lot; I was worried Laura might think it was kind of boring, but she said it was "pretty good." Meryl Streep seemed quite different than her role in Devil Wears Prada. There was a lot of good music in it, and Lily Tomlin and Garrison Keillor. I used to listen to Prairie Home Companion all the time when I lived in Eugene.

Tomorrow we are driving to Mill City to pick up Max and his cousin Alex and bring them back to Portland. It will be fun to see Max again.

Tonight I read Jonathan Franzen's essay on the novel that was published in Harper's in 1996 and everyone talked about. I finally read it! I liked the quote from Don DeLillo that he included in it: "writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see in the making all around us."

Our Far-Flung Correspondents

Today, Tori is in India, Max is in Central Oregon and Holly is in New York City.

Today is my mom's birthday. We went out to Shari's for breakfast this morning - Laura, Elise, Mom and I.

Last night we went to see The Devil Wears Prada. I enjoyed it; Meryl Streep was great. Turns out Michele G. and John were sitting right behind us!

Today we are going to McMinnville to celebrate Mom's birthday. Amy has a temporary houseguest, in the form of a calico kitten.

Happy Birthday Diane.

Superman

Michael and I took the kids - Laura very much against her will! - to Superman yesterday. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I think Anthony Lane was right, however - the actor who plays Superman seems like he's doing an imitation of Christopher Reeve playing Superman.

Friday night I went out with Janine, Daneen and Zanni. Janine's in town for most of July - hooray! I thought it was funny we all showed up with black shirts on. We went to Mint, a place in North Portland. I wish Janine and Zanni still lived here, but I think perhaps Zanni might move back - at least to Oregon? - after she graduates. Can't stop thinking about Janine's red shoes - and gold hoop earrings. Maybe I'll write a poem where they make a guest appearance ...

Sending a poetry manuscript to Tupelo Press tomorrow. Daneen lit the fire under me!

Keats

The Oregon State Beavers won the College World Series! Michael and Max watched the game.

It has been hot here. Too hot to go running.

But it cooled down tonight around nine - finally. Cool enough to take the dogs for a walk, anyway. The lavender is in bloom in Portland! I noticed it everywhere tonight - and in my own backyard.

I have been reading Lug Your Careless Body Out of the Careful Dusk by Joshua Marie Wilkerson and enjoying it very much! And he will have poems in the new Caffeine Destiny, hooray.

The words on the woman in the lower left hand corner that can't be read very well here are:

The poetry of earth is never dead:
When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run
From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;

by John Keats, from On the Grasshopper and the Cricket.

Bowl of Lemons!

Okay, so maybe I had to tell you they were lemons before you knew ... But you can tell it's a bowl, right? I drew this today.

I ran six miles this morning. There was a nice breeze, although it's getting very hot. I"m so glad we have air conditioning.

I checked out some books about drawing. I like doing things in the summer I don't usually do. Drawing is fun. I like drawing when I first get up, as the newspaper is really not worth reading these days. I read the celebrity news and the opinion page and then I'm usually done.

Reading Karen Volkman's Spar again, and Megan Johnston's The Waiting. They both are so great - they push so hard on the language, I love that. I wrote a poem on Thursday that I was quite pleased with, and emailed it to some people to say "look what I did!" I'm trying to make the words do a lot of work - calisthentics for the words! And as Janine and I discussed the other day, don't forget the music of the poem! yes!

Max and Laura are going to a birthday party today. Both of their lessons went well yesterday. Max learned two chords. Max's teacher said he would find the music for Behind Blue Eyes by the Who for Max, since that's one of Max's favorite songs. Laura's teacher said yesterday she was a flute player with two sticks of wood in her hands, but she was going to become a drummer! Or something like that - I liked how he said it.

So right now I'm a poet with a pencil. I think I shall probably remain that, but it's fun to try new things.

Swimsuits

It feels like summer is really here now. I took the kids to Target today and they got new swimsuits. Then later they played out in the back in the sprinkler in them. Laura has an orange bikini and Max's suit is also a shade of orange - they looked cute, playing in the sprinkler in the back yard.

This afternoon Michael brought home a snare drum and drum stand and drumsticks for Laura. Her first percussion lesson is tomorrow. Max's guitar lesson is tomorrow too.

I am reading an Anita Brookner novel - I haven't read a book by her in a long time. I read an essay last night about Dare Wright, the woman who wrote the Edith the Lonely Doll books. I didn't know there were like fifteen Edith the Lonely Doll books. I had one when I was a kid. I bought the reprint for Laura a few years ago.

Tonight Laura and I went to Michael's Craft Store and I bought a sketchbook and some pencils. I bought some of those charcoal pencils, the dark ones that you have to peel. I remember my mom had those. I drew some chairs and flowers. It was fun.

First Week of Summer Vacation

For my kids anyway! They are a bit squirrely but seem to be adjusting to no school. I practiced football throwing and catching with Max last night. I have to get over my first impulse when I see a football heading for me - it doesn't help to duck! Max kept explaining to me that I should have all fingers lined up with the stitching when I throw the ball.

Max has his first guitar lesson on Friday, and Laura has her first percussion lesson Friday as well! She wants to be percussion next year in band, instead of the flute.

I don't know why I started thinking about this today, but I wonder: when did people start rolling their eyes as a facial expression? Did people in the Middle Ages roll their eyes? Not in a "I'm possessed by the devil!" kind of a way, but in a "geez I can't believe you said that!!" or "God you're stupid" manner? I will have to look into this.

I have been listening to Band of Horses a lot lately. They are coming to the Doug Fir on July 3rd and I think Michael and I are going.

School's Out!

Tomorrow is Max's last day of fourth grade! Today was Laura's last day of sixth grade!!

Max also had a tux fitting today. As in, yes, tuxedo! He's going to be a ringbearer in my father-in-law''s wedding on Saturday. Laura is going to be a candlelighter, with her cousin Sonja.

My poetry students turned in their final projects today. It was fun to read their reflective memos at the beginning of their projects. I can think of things I will do differently next time, but I think some good things happened in that class.

I have been reading some of the Best American Essays 2005 this week. Michael gave it to me for my birthday in January, but I hadn't read many of them until this week. I read an essay about the Peanuts comic strip (and other things) by Jonathan Franzen, and an essay about memory by Ian Frazier. I would like to try to write an essay this summer. I make my students write them all the time - it seems only fair!

The sky was gorgeous tonight. My sweet peas are starting to bloom.

My contributor's copies of Faultline arrived today. I thought my poem looked nice.

Sunday

Michael and I slept in until 10:30 this morning - we never sleep in that late!

Last night we watched Woody Allen's Match Point, which was good, and started A History of Violence, which was - surprise! - violent, but seems good so far.

Yesterday was the end of the season barbecue for Little League. Max had a lot of fun getting very wet in the dunk tank. Michael and I played in a ball game with other parents against the coaches. Michael was good, I was not so good, but I did actually manage to hit the ball on one of my times at bat. Pretty amazing for me!

Next week is the kid's last week of school. Max's class is going swimming Monday, and I think Tuesday is field day. I can remember field day from when I was in grade school. There's still something exciting about the last week of school!

It's been warm so the flowers are happy. My tomato plants have actual tomatos on them.

I stopped reading Black Swan Green, about thirty pages before it ended. I realized, I just didn't care how it ended. So I stopped. I want to read Antonya Nelson's new collection of short stories. I have been thinking about short stories lately.

Tuesday

My poetry class at PSU is winding down, my new class at WSU has started! Six students registered, five were in class yesterday. They put us in a computer lab type of classroom, with tables grouped in fives. Each table has a huge monitor on it - it kind of hides their faces! Fine if I was teaching a typing class I suppose ... I can see how it would come in handy for in-class writing, but really, it seems like overkill.

Max is giving a speech today - his last of the year. He practiced it many times last night. He was supposed to write a speech that a patriot would give - as in Revolutionary War patriot. He convinced me! This morning he wore all blue, including his nice dress shoes and a button down shirt. And he brought his wooden sword as a prop. He says Patrick Henry had a sword too!

Sunday Michael and I went to the Art Museum. We saw the new Modern Art wing. I liked the Rothko. Some of it was too modern for me. The renaissance painting from Brecia was cool.

It's June!

June has started out rainy, but that's Portland for you!

Hey I won a copy of Joshua Corey's new chapbook. And they say reading blogs is not a lucrative pursuit ...

Today one of my class ends and next week a new one begins! My summer class at WSU has six students.

I would be entirely content to finish Black Swan Green today and drink coffee and do nothing else. One of these days ...

My oriental poppies are blooming! According to folklore, staring into the center of a poppy will make you blind. But I did that yesterday, and so far my vision is fine.

End of May

Look, I'm an Abstract Expressionist! I made this with stamp pad ink.

It is almost summer. We are on the verge of raspberry season which is my favorite season of the year! I could eat them by the bucket. Big buckets of raspberries, yes.

Do you have to learn to draw before you can be an Abstract Expressionist? Do they make you do charcoal drawings and contour drawings and learn perspective? Or is being an Abstract Expressionist a convenient way to forego all that?

My lavender is just about ready to bloom.

Laura returned from Outdoor School. This summer she will be going to the Rock 'n Roll Camp for Girls.

I rearranged my office this weekend and I'm very pleased with the result. Michael helped me move all the electronic stuff. It looks much better in here. Now there are two bookcases under the window.

I have a small black and white photo of my grandmother, sitting on top of one of the bookcases, taken long before I was born. She's wearing a long mink coat. It's a great photo. And today is her 91st birthday! Happy Birthday Grandma!

Spring Rain

It has been raining a lot this week - and mostly I like rain - but this week I keep thinking of sixth graders at Outdoor School hiking around (or whatever it is they do there) in the rain.

Particularly, my Sixth Grader! Maybe we will get mail from her tomorrow.

I have been reading Kenneth Koch's New Addresses and really liking it. Janine mentioned it to me. Now I want to write address poems. Dear Spring! Dear Rain! Dear Dishes in the Kitchen! Dear Guitar! I love Koch's conversational tone. And of course he was from the New York School - and they are all great (that is my great critical literary insight for today, thanks very much).

Max is going to take guitar lessons. We found a teacher and Max will go a few times and see what he thinks. He's pretty excited about it.

Max wore his WHO t-shirt to school this week; he said kids were asking him THE WHO were. Tragic.

I was feeling tired, but I ran three miles in the rain and now feel much better. Dear Running! Dear Rain!

Fall Out Boy

Laura left for Outdoor School today. She'll be back Friday. Yesterday we went shopping at the mall. She told me as we were leaving that she HAD to get a Fall Out Boy t-shirt. So we went to a store that had Fall Out Boy t-shirts, and Green day t-shirts and other bands I've never heard of. We got Max a WHO t-shirt and he was psyched! I like some of those Fall Out Boy songs.

I ran six miles this morning. Amy and I are going to run the Cascade Run off in July, and that's nine hilly miles! So I must prepare for that.

Every day there's new things to see outside. Some lilies that I planted near the bird feeder have come up. The coreopsis is about to bloom. And the roses are going to town; I'm able to have cut roses inside all the time now.

Max's team won their game Saturday. They won't have another game until Friday, because the coach is also at Outdoor School! He is a middle school teacher as well as a Little League coach.

I gave Laura an envelope with a stamp, addressed to her family. And I snuck some fig newtons and a note from me into her suitcase. I hope they don't get rained on and the food is decent.

Friday

Michael and Laura went to the father/daughter Girl Scout dance tonight. They both looked pretty cute as they were leaving.

I haven't made a new collage in a while. Maybe tonight?

I ran five miles this morning, then shopped for clothes and did very little teaching-related activities!

Laura leaves for Outdoor School on Sunday. She'll be gone until next Friday. At least she has an address there so I can write to her. It will be quiet around here.

Meetings this week at Washington State University in Vancouver. This fall they will start admitting freshman and I will be teaching in the General Education department and the English department.

Wow, I actually named one of the places I teach - I've outed myself! WSU-Vancouver has a gorgeous campus. I'm sure the freshman will like it!

My iris are blooming and there are even little blossoms on my tomato plants. My sunflower seeds have sprouted. I evicted a peony today. It was kind of in the irises way. Except the peony was here first. Garden wars!

It was fun to hear Daneen and other poets read on Wednesday. It made me miss Janine and Zanni and Nico.

I read this article today in MORE magazine that this woman wrote about deciding not to dye her hair anymore. MORE is written for the over-40 woman for those of you not familiar with it. They showed the before and after pictures, and I do think she looks lots better with her grey hair. But halfway through the article, I started to feel like, geez lady it's just your hair. I mean it just started to seem a little too narcissistic to be so overly worried about the color of one's hair! It became this big reflection and/or metaphor for her personal journey into middle adulthood. Why does everything have to be a big personal journey? The many trips to the colorist to make the growing out look more natural, the comment on her new look from some stranger outside a movie theater that made her feel attractive, etc. etc. I think it also revealed how women are always SO defined by what they look like! And it almost reminded me of articles in SEVENTEEN magazine about how to wear your hair. Except those articles just show a few pictures and then the article is over! This was words and words and words about this woman's hair. I mean, shouldn't we evolve a LITTLE as we age? Or do we just always have the same adolescent concerns that just follow us all through our lives, i.e. How does my hair look?

Okay, end of rant.

It's Friday!

I am not done with my changes

I had a fun Mother's Day. I am now a member of the Portland Art Museum! The whole family is! Michael and the kids gave me a membership for Mother's Day. I can't wait to take advantage of it.

Drove to Corvallis Sunday and saw my mom, briefly! Planted geraniums and other flowers in pots that are now in her courtyard and under her window.

It was unseasonably warm yesterday. The flowers seem to be digging it.

I have lots of meetings this week, and conferences with students! It's sestinas and villanelles this week for my poetry students. Which means, of course, "One Art" and "Do Not Go Gentle" and things like that!

Tomorrow I will go see Daneen and other PSU poets read. I'm looking forward to that.

Stanley Kunitz is gone. He will be missed.

One of my favorite poems of his:

The Layers

I have walked through many lives,
some of them my own,
and I am not who I was,
though some principle of being
abides, from which I struggle
not to stray.
When I look behind,
as I am compelled to look
before I can gather strength
to proceed on my journey,
I see the milestones dwindling
toward the horizon
and the slow fires trailing
from the abandoned camp-sites,
over which scavenger angels
wheel on heavy wings.
Oh, I have made myself a tribe
out of my true affections,
and my tribe is scattered!
How shall the heart be reconciled
to its feast of losses?
In a rising wind
the manic dust of my friends,
those who fell along the way,
bitterly stings my face.
Yet I turn, I turn,
exulting somewhat,
with my will intact to go
wherever I need to go,
and every stone on the road
precious to me.
In my darkest night,
when the moon was covered
and I roamed through wreckage,
a nimbus-clouded voice
directed me:
"Live in the layers,
not on the litter."
Though I lack the art
to decipher it,
no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written.
I am not done with my changes.

Assassins

Michael and I couldn't decide what movie to see last night - it was either Mission Impossible Three or some other movie...

So we went to see Assassins at Artist Repertory Theatre. The theater there is small and intimate, so it was fun to see a musical in that setting. It's about presidential assassins. The actors who played John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald were the strongest, I thought.

Today Zapoura and I went to a faculty roundtable and "facilitated" discussions about teaching writing. It was interesting!

This week I have conferences with my poetry students, and other meetings about writing classes.

But more importantly, a baseball game Tuesday! Max's team won today.

Laura has her final track meet this week, but I may have to miss it due to meetings.

Tomorrow I'm going to see my mom in Corvallis to wish her happy Mother's Day thoughts.

Tonight ... singing! Or my imitation of it.

It's Early

I couldn't sleep so I decided to get up! I feel like Zanni. No, if I were Zanni it would be 2:30 a.m. instead of 5:45 ... But Zanni's dream about being pregnant with a sheep reminded me of a dream I had a long time ago - in high school I think - where I had kittens!

I like being up early. The light outside my office window is morning-ous! Or something.

Today in poetry class we are talking more about sonnets. Everyone is supposed to bring their sonnet to class and we will workshop them in class today, instead of doing the usual take-them-home-and-comment-on-them thing. Because Thursday they have a project due!

The Portland Art Museum has a new exhibit, Great Painters in Brescia From the Renaissance to the 18th Century. I want to go!

I am working on a long poem that will take a long time to finish. It's nice to have a longer-ish poem as backdrop to the shorter ones I write. A poetry book I am reading, whose name escapes me and I don't want to get up and find it, has made me think about syntax more. The moving around. of it. Yes, The Waiting by Megan Johnson! I remembered!

I want to read more Frank Bidart.

I'm reading Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. It's a novel. I'm going to read a lot of novels this summer, I have decided. I'm open to suggestion!

Laura's class is going downtown today on a field trip.

There is nothing more pleasing than the first cup of coffee in the morning. I think no one knows this better than my mother and me. I bet she is up too.