Poetry Blitz, Fourteen.

This post is the fourteenth installation of book ends'

National Poetry Month poetry blitz. Read more about it here.

Fog

by Carl Sandburg

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

L. Stacks

Image: weheartit

Highlights of My Week

Dear readers, I apologize for being so bad about my postings lately. Sure, I've been keeping up with my National Poetry Month poetry blitz, but I haven't been blogging much of anything else lately. Things are winding down for the semester--my last semester of coursework for my MFA in Creative Writing--and needless to say, I have plenty to work on: a 12-page paper, my thesis, a graduate research presentation, and compiling a syllabus for a final project. Not to mention wedding planning and job searching.

But don't worry, it's not all stress over here. There have been some great highlights in my week that keep me pushing forward, and positive. No matter how busy my schedule is, if I get a moment or two to really enjoy something unexpected, then it all seems okay by the end of the day. Here are some of my highlights of the week:

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

This week, for some reason, I've been craving carrot cake all week long. After every meal, I want some sweet cream cheese frosting atop a cute little carrot cake cupcake--and I'm embarrassed to say that I've given in and had FOUR in the past four days. (Sheepish grin.) Each of these little guilty treats have been a highlight to my crazy week. Let's hope that things slow down next week so I don't keep this little streak up.

Photo: weheartit

A Child's "Lemonade" Stand

One of my favorite moments of the week happened on Wednesday mid-morning when I was walking home from the gym. A little boy was positioned in front of his house, with a table of cupcakes, mini water bottles and some rocks with hand-drawn faces. "Would you like to buy something from me?" he asked. I scanned his table, and fell in love with one of his little rocks. "How much?" I asked. "Whatever you think it's worth," was his very good answer. "Two dollars?" I asked, and his face lit up. "Thank you very much," he said. "Have a great day!" And the smiley rock has become a perfect little paperweight on my desk.

Photo: weheartit

Potted Plants

To liven up our little apartment, I went out and got some green little friends to adorn the empty spaces on our shelves and tables (one of my lovely roommates is getting married and moving out). Their little green branches and leaves have made me very cheerful every time I enter the house. Now I just have to make sure that I don't neglect them.

Photo: weheartit

What kinds of things do you all do to make stressful weeks happier? Any hints for the future?

L. Stacks

Poetry Blitz, Thirteen.

This post is the thirteenth installation of book ends'

National Poetry Month poetry blitz. Read more about it here.

Riddle

By Kate Light

[From Drunken Boat 7, Spring 2005]

You say you won’t go out tonight

but you will, I’m certain;

your eyes will light

as mine go out, your curtain

part, and all the dark illuminate…

You’ll slip out through the narrow door

and down and down

the cobbled street, your step as sure

as if you’d always known the town,

to go to places I have been

with you but will not go again.

How can this be? Can it be fair…?

There is no “fair”-- just you wind

wayward the medieval street,

so lured by everything, and blind…

And who can know whom you might meet

as you go, seeking your own kind?

L. Stacks

Photo: weheartit

Poetry Blitz, Twelve.

This post is the twelfth installation of book ends'

National Poetry Month poetry blitz. Read more about it here.

If You are Lucky in this Life

By Cameron Penny, 4th grade student

[Found in an interview with poet John Rybicki]

A window will appear between two armies on a battlefield. Instead of

seeing their enemies in the window, they see themselves as children.

They stop fighting and go home and sleep. When they wake up, the

land is well again.

L. Stacks

Photo: weheartit

Poetry Blitz, Eleven.

This post is the eleventh installation of book ends'

National Poetry Month poetry blitz. Read about it here.

Introduction to Poetry

By Billy Collins

[From The Apple That Astonished Paris]

I ask them to take a poem

and hold it up to the light

like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem

and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room

and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski

across the surface of a poem

waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do

is tie the poem to a chair with rope

and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose

to find out what it really means.

L. Stacks

Photo: weheartit

Poetry Blitz, Ten.

This post is the tenth installation of book ends'

National Poetry Month poetry blitz. Read about it here.

Poem in Which I, and Only I, Get What I Deserve Michael Meyerhofer
[Found in Another Chicago Magazine #49]


A student with manga-blue eyes
submits a poem about her father's hands
and their ability, when closed,


to chip more than teeth. I remember
four years of boxing lessons,
the reason I stayed late


and pressed iron bars against the ceiling,
the nunchakus I practiced
to the trill of imaginary pan flutes


after another female friend told me
what so-and-so had done
and I shuttered from the weight of it all.


I give her the number for counseling.
Then, in a poor attempt
to lighten the mood, ask her


if she wants me to go kick his ass.
She looks me up and down.
Says: I'm pretty sure he could take you.


L. Stacks


Photo: weheartit

I Love: Messy Buns!

[For three (1, 2, 3) of the past six Mondays, I have posted about something that I love. Mondays are such rough days--does anyone out there actually like the start of a new work week? Does anyone say, yay, Mondays are marvelous? So to cheer myself up, and maybe my readers, too, I've decided to officially name my "I Love" posts on Mondays: book ends' Lovely Monday posts. Because wouldn't the day be so much better if you tried to think about lovely things?]

photo: weheartit

photo: weheartit

photo: weheartit

photo: weheartit

Maybe it's because my hair now reaches my shoulder blades, or maybe because Chicago is slowly starting to warm up again, but lately, for me, the messy bun has been making its comeback. Call me lazy, but there's something so nice about just twisting up a mess of hair and somehow ending up with a glam little knot on your neck. I'm afraid if I don't chop off some of my locks soon, I may end up with too much hair to do this...

Have a lovely Monday,

L. Stacks