My Mimi

Tonight I was hungry

     For a bacon sandwich

But I did not realize

     Until I ate the last strip

     Of thick pork

That what I was really craving

     Was a moment,

     A memory of my Mimi.

And 'tho my stomach filled,

     My heart remains empty

Longing for one more day,

     Another meal together

     One last chance to ask her

About the origin of

     The little wooden rocking chair

     That she gave me.

If only I could send her

     A picture and a note

Then await her handwritten reply --

     A comment on the weather

     Her most recent favorite meal, 

And how cute my kittens are

     Sitting on the embroidered blue seat

     Of her miniature rocker.

But that post will never arrive

     Because her memory

Will linger longer than

     The smell of bacon

     Hanging in the springtime air

And more moments will come

     That remind me of my Mimi

     And her love. 

After sitting in a PD all day on co-teaching, my brain is dead.  My teacher brain and writer brain can't seem to occupy the same space at the same time.  I wonder if that is why I don't incorporate enough creative writing into my lessons?  I usually blame that on Common Core these days, but maybe since I have a difficult time writing creatively during the school year, I don't ask my students to do it enough either.  The last two years on the end-of-year evaluations I gave students to fill out, even some of my reluctant writers made the comment that they wish we had done more creative writing. I need to remember that this year instead of letting myself get bogged down, but it's difficult to squeeze it all in!

Sometimes, some things

Sometimes I am too tired to sleep

Too worried about things I've said

or maybe its the things I didn't say

Thoughts bottled up inside my head
Flitter like fireflies in a mason jar

Too anxious about things I haven't done

errands that must be done tomorrow

items to check off my list, maybe some tasks

that aren't intended for me to complete

Too excited about the possibilities

of what more I could become

if I set my doubts free, of the place 

I could go if I let myself explore

Too overwhelmed by 

all of life's uncertainties

of dreams that could become reality

if only I wasn't too tired to sleep.


This is my second installment of today's prompt, written around 1:00 this morning.  Probably should have just put it in my reader's notebook, but that's still on the bookshelf in the cellophane, and my iPad was right next to the bed.

Sometimes

Sometimes
when I yearn for solitude
What I need most
is the laughter of a friend.

Sometimes
when no one is listening
I realize it is because
I haven't spoken.

Sometimes
when I am bored
I'm actually avoiding
what needs to be done.

Sometimes
when it seems no one understands
I find a thousand others
with similar hopes and fears.

Sometimes
when hope's feather

flutters in the breeze
A new adventure
is about to take flight.



I wrote this in response for today's Teachers Write post.  It didn't really follow the prompt, which was to create sensory details about a place, starting with the words "Sometimes".  Well, I got one part of it right.  As teachers we need to remember that just because a student doesn't follow directions exactly doesn't necessarily mean he/she is being defiant...maybe he/she is being creative.

On Writing

Lately I have been writing more, but not necessarily in a writer's notebook. I bought one two years ago and it sits on the bookshelf in my home office still in the cellophane wrapper.  I used to keep journals when I was in school, and I came across several of them the other day when I was cleaning and organizing.  They are books, I wrote in them, but I never really thought of them as writer's notebooks, and I haven't written in one of them for ten years.

I may not keep a writer's notebook per se, but what I do have are over 26,000 words of a middle grades manuscript written and saved to my personal computer.  I have random thoughts for other stories saved in Evernote via my phone and Ipad.  I have old-fashioned paper lists and sticky notes that clutter my desk.   A Facebook timeline and a Twitter feed post my latest thoughts and shenanigans (well, a few of them).  On Goodreads, I keep a running list of books I've read and books I want to read.  And, of course, I started this blog last month.

Sounds like a bunch of random projects I may never finish, huh?  But isn't that what being creative is all about?  Someone else mentioned that they are too much of a perfectionist to keep a writer's notebook.  I wouldn't say I'm a perfectionist, but I can move my words around easier when they aren't all bound in a little black book.


Note:  Today is the first day of an online workshop lead by author Kate Messner called Teachers Write.  I am excited to be participating this summer!

Stop and Shoot the Roses

Since I don't need to be anywhere this morning, I took some time to stop and smell the roses 

(or, to be literal, photograph the flowers) in my yard this morning.