Sudden Shower

It's raining. In fact, there's a bit of thunder. I should be turning off the computer, unplugging and all that, but it's been so long since I posted that I just can't resist.

Final grades are done (as of 8 a.m. today), and I am ready to throw myself wholeheartedly into an exploration of the poetry of Louise Bogan. Specifically, I'm looking at her use of form. I'll also, I'm sure, be thinking about her writer's block when it came to poetry (she focused on writng literary criticism for so long that, Mary Kinzie suggests in A Poet's Prose, she became too self-critical).

It's good to be back in a somewhat scholarly mode, for a little while at least.

I'll Take Manhattan

It's that time of semester. The grades are slowly, slowly getting done. The sun has come out and the air is a little warmer. I am starting to feel as if there is an end to the madness, very very soon.

I'm posting this image purely as an incentive to get through all the piles of work. . .
Cheers!

My plate runneth over

If you are tired of all these images in every post, too bad! I don't have time to really write anything, and here's why:

• commenting on 38 poems, 19 short stories, and 19 manuscripts and finishing participation grades for my online Creative Writing class
• grading 18 6-8 pp. case study papers and presentations for my Creative Imagination class
• marking 22 research paper drafts and presentations for my Poetry class
• class prep, answering emails from students, updating my classes' Blackboard sites
• actually teaching the classes with some semblance of sanity and order (oh, yeah)
• finishing a proposal for a new course
• Assistant Chair, English & Speech Department administrative schtuff (don't ask)
• meetings, meetings, meetings (ditto)
• introducing Sally Ball at Barrow Street reading/Marymount Manhattan College, Wed. 5/10
• Poetry Club flea market Thurs. 5/11 (please come by and buy some stuff!)
• family in town for my sister-in-law Rita's commitment ceremony (next weekend)
• rehearsing to sing at said ceremony
• helping Bob finish the lyrics for the song he's writing for Rita and her partner Matt
• finding something for Bobby, Stella, and myself to wear
• [your request here--c'mon, pile it on!]

What goes by the wayside?

• quality time w/kids and Bob
• sleeping
• eating (if only)
• breathing
• exercising
• and, of course, writing
  

I wish I could quit you. . .

Dear Procrastination,

My faithful friend and paramour throughout these many years, we have known each other for so long now. Aren't you tired of torturing me yet? Why do you hang around at the worst times, when my desk is piled with ungraded papers, my notebook is gathering dust, and deadlines are whizzing past?

If I could only break free of you, of my obsession with your enticements--the random googling, the elaborate snack I just have to prepare and subsequently devour, the other email I desperately need to send, the fascinating New Yorker article that is just so important I can't wait to read it, the latest VH1 junk TV show--

I would have finished that novel, the memoir, dozens of poems, and probably a couple of book proposals. The circles under my eyes would vanish. My temperament would even out (right!) and everyone would find me much more pleasant to be around--especially my longsuffering husband.

So how about it, Procrastination? Can you give me a break? You can keep the horse. . .

Love,

your Pardner