An Update

I have so much to do today. (makes sense that I'm blogging instead of doing it, right?)
I'm a reader for Grist, the UT national literary journal, and let me tell you, I'm not sure I know how to read poetry. I think some of the stuff we've gotten is just awful, but when I read the bios of the authors and realize they have MFAs and extensive publishing credentials, I worry that maybe their work is brilliant and I'm just not nuanced reader.
But then maybe it's just not that good. I'm going to talk to the poetry editor about it. She is wonderful, and she'll give me some advice on what kinds of things to look for.

I had a great career-affirming moment the other day. I was leaving my evening poetry workshop and encountered a student from my 101 class. Or, rather, he encountered me. He was walking on the other side of the street and yelled out "hey, I finished my paper!" (The students' first papers were due yesterday). I smiled and told him I looked forward to reading it, and he kept on talking about how he was shocked he got it done so early the night before and it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Maybe he was just brown nosing, but I like to think my mentor and I have really taught him something about writing and viewing the texts of the world (we've been teaching rhetorical analysis). If I can have moments like every now and again, I can handle a lifetime of this teaching thing.

In other news, I wrote a lyric poem about homoerotic lust in a Laundromat. I'll post it here so you can read it, Laura. I'm actually happy with the poem. It's the first one I've turned in all semester that I think has the intended effect of knocking down the reader's expectations by the end. Of course, with revision it will be better.

I'm about to run to the grocery and dollar stores, then back home for an afternoon of cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. My apartment looks like the aftermath of a wind storm in a library--books and papers strewn about everywhere. And then, I also have to do laundry.

*Side note: There are two chores I hate more than any others: shaving and laundry. I'm considering sporting a long, ragged beard and perpetually dirty clothes. End note.