April | 2019 | A Poet's Double Life

April 28, 2019
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April 2019 Poem-a-Day, Week 4

Writing nook at the Moonrise hotel in St. Louis

The double life is in full effect. In addition to preparing two presentations for board meetings, I also facilitated two workshops for high school students for MassPoetry‘s Student Day of Poetry and participated in a pop-up poetry reading during the Community Day of Poetry. Right now, I am in St. Louis for a professional conference, and later this week, I will host an open mic during the faculty-staff pub night.

Here are the poems for Week 4, featuring several Cave Canem fellows & faculty:

Day 22: “Frederick Douglass” by Robert Hayden

Day 23: “Ode to the Flute” by Ross Gay

Day 24: “Poem for Amadou Diallo” by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon

Day 25: “Hysterical Strength” by Nicole Sealey

Day 26: “Muscadine” by Mary Moore Easter

Day 27: “Vacation” by Rita Dove

Day 28: “Poet of an Ordinary Heartbreak” by Chris Abani

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April 21, 2019
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April 2019 Poem-a-Day, Week 3

This week was short and busy. In Massachusetts, it was April vacation week. My colleague took time off while school was out, which means I was “home alone” at work. It also meant that there wasn’t as much traffic on the drive to campus every day. I spent most of the week lamenting how much farther along Spring was in Durham compared to Boston. By the end of the week, the trees in Boston started waking up. Next weekend, I’m heading to St. Louis for a professional conference. The weather is so nice there that I’ll have to break out my open-toed sandals.

The highlights of this week include a celebratory dinner in honor of getting into a summer institute program at Harvard and hearing my VONA faculty, Willie Perdomo, read from his new collection, The Crazy Bunch.

Fish tacos and onion rings at Hamilton's in Brookline

Celebratory dinner

Lemon layer cake from Hamilton's in Brookline

Celebratory dessert

Poet Willie Perdomo reading from his new collection, The Crazy Bunch

Willie Perdomo reading from The Crazy Bunch

Here are the poems from Week 3

Day 16: “That’s My Heart Right There” by Willie Perdomo

Day 17: “Don’t Go Into the Library” by Alberto Ríos

Day 18: “You Thought I Was That Type” by Anna Akhmatova

Day 19: “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke

Day 20: “A poem from a father to his youngest son” by Timothy TB

Day 21: “Twenty-Year Marriage” by Ai

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April 16, 2019
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April 2019 Poem-a-Day, Week 2

Birthday decorations

Poem from the Poetry Fox

BIrthday sweets

Boston Marathon runners

I’m Silently Correcting Your Grammar

An extra long weekend for me bookended by a birthday and the Boston Marathon. I visited North Carolina this weekend to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Living Poetry, the group that encouraged and supported my poetic growth. It was great to see familiar and new faces around the table for the open mic. I’m so glad to see the group thriving. I also spent time with friends and former colleagues, dancing tango (thanks for the birthday tandas), and hanging out at the Union Member House, a cool new downtown Durham. The trip was short and really sweet.

Here are the poems for last week (plus a day):

Day 8: “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver

Day 9: “Inevitable” by Mahogany Browne

Day 10: “Just Once” by Anne Sexton

Day 11: “Empty Space” by Amrita Pritam

Day 12: “How to Get Emotional Distance When Voodoo is Not an Option” by Pamela Taylor

Day 13: “It Was Summer Now and the Colored People Came Out Into the Sunshine” by Morgan Parker

Day 14: “Separation” by W.S. Merwin

Day 15: “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks

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