The First Book

"The First Book" by Rita Dove

Open it.

Go ahead, it won't bite.
Well...maybe a little.

More a nip, like. A tingle.
It's pleasurable, really.

You see, it keeps on opening.
You may fall in.

Sure, it's hard to get started;
remember learning to use

knife and fork? Dig in:
You'll never reach the bottom.

It's not like it's the end of the world
just the world as you think

you know it.

Warning

Warning - When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple

By Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
and satin candles, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired
and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
and run my stick along the public railings
and make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
and pick the flowers in other people's gardens
and learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
and eat three pounds of sausages at a go
or only bread and pickles for a week
and hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
and pay our rent and not swear in the street
and set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Short and Sweet

"Jamesian"
by Thom Gunn

Their relationship consisted
In discussing if it existed.

Tagged

My sister in law, Jen, tagged me. It's getting harder to think of things that people don't already know about me, but here goes:

10 Years Ago:

That would have been 1998. I dated 4 or 5 guys, sometimes at the same time. Kissed a few more. Broke a few hearts. Did my student teaching. Got my first real job in my field of study. Drove from UT to NJ twice. Graduated College. Got engaged. Planned a wedding. Got married. Had a reception, and went on my honeymoon. Ugh. I'm tired just remembering all of that. What a year!

5 Things On my To Do List Today:

1. Book hotel rooms for my upcoming trip.
2. Call Dee to ask if she can watch Benjamin for a few minutes after school while I am the parent helper in Nathaniel's class.
3. Clean off the kitchen island.
4. Finish planting all my seeds.
5. Go to the gym. Today is upper body weight lifting.

If I Had a Billion Dollars:

-"I'd buy some art: a Picasso or a Garfunkel"
-I would pay off my mortgage and the respective mortgages of our parents and siblings.
-I would build a completely self contained house. Geothermal heat, cisterns, solar panels, maybe even composting toilets...if I could find someone to deal with emptying the holding tank.
-I WOULD GET A CLEANING LADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Todd could quit his job and be just as wildly creative or adorably geeky as he wanted to be, but I would make him learn how to do yard work, so he might prefer to keep working.
-Put money away so my kids and their cousins can go to college.
-Travel and eat wherever I want.

Okay, that was a fun little 5 minutes of fantasy.

5 Jobs I've Had:
1. Waitress/Bartender
2. Tumbling Teacher
3. Companion (like a nanny, not a call girl)
4. Music Teacher (Voice, Piano, and Violin)
5. Prep kitchen cook

5 Places I Have Lived:
1. NJ
2. PA
3. WY
4. UT
5. OH

5 Things People May Not Know About Me:
1. I get easily obsessed with things. Once I get interested, I learn EVERYTHING there is to know. And then I stop.
2. I have a secret passion for shoes. It is thwarted by the fact that I have absurdly large feet and am generally too cheap to spend money.
3. I write stories. I've finished two book length stories. (They remain unedited. Todd is my editor because he's insanely good at it, but I won't let him critique me unless he's naked. I figure it makes us more equal: I bare my creative soul, he bares his body. He complained that it was too cold in our house this winter for editing. The weather's warming up, though...)
4. We are trying to adopt a teenager. Because who doesn't want to pay for college ten years before they would otherwise have to? ;)
5. Much to the chagrin of my parents, I am a registered Democrat.

I tag anyone who feels like doing it, but let me know, because it would be fun to see your answers!

When you're feeling a little too lucky...

Shopping for One- Neal Bowers

Waving at everyone who honked,
thinking how uncommonly friendly
complete strangers had become,
she found her sack of groceries
atop the car when she got home,
potato chips and cookies blessed
with a balance she couldn’t explain
except to say the ice cream
and cans of frosting on the bottom
held fast at each turning
to counteract her absent-mindedness.

Not wanting this token of luck
after all the times luck had failed her,
she smashed a jar of olives in the street,
splattering the air with sourness
and freeing the random green wobble
that made the world seem right again.

"The Country"

Best Post-Break-Up Poem Ever!

"Heart, we will forget him"
a poem by Emily Dickinson


Heart, we will forget him,
You and I, tonight!
You must forget the warmth he gave,
I will forget the light.

When you have done pray tell me,
Then I, my thoughts, will dim.
Haste! ‘lest while you’re lagging
I may remember him!