I love my bookstore. Yes, it’s mine. I’ll take you there someday. Once we go, it could be your bookstore too. But it was mine first. Yes, I’m being that way about it. Those shelves are stocked specifically for my perusal because that’s the only way my exorbitant spending habits are justified. I’m a hapless Continue reading

This week, my brother is visiting D.C. for the first time. I took him to the memorials today. The Lincoln Memorial was my brother’s favorite. “Lincoln is bigger than I thought,” he said, just as he said the Washington Monument was larger than he’d imagined. Together we looked at the statue and then we started Continue reading

You Are Forever Like Oceans My toes curl into sand, Establishing myself between the waves. I tell you my dreams Of a kitchen with curtains framing sunshine And lemon cake with frosting. Around my ankles the splashes remind me of the sequins On my first really truly ballerina tutu. I give you my secret About Continue reading

Another school year is drawing to a close this week. This year I had to teach my students so many things I have yet to master. How to handle those who make them feel less than loved. Finding patience for the people who need more time to grow. Understanding that identity is not grade point Continue reading

We’ll Be Here When We’ve Repeated Everything 1-2-3 you said. A-B-C. Over and over and over. Last year you measured out syllables in triplet Bursting away from your work in raucous but predictable beats. But you’ve grown so tall this year; Just one way I’ve seen you change From the squirming boy I met two Continue reading

Sometimes I send an email and I get my own words sent back in a new shape: Re:Thinking Out Loud Today has been almost enough to write a poem about. By which I mean that today has been filled with many quiet moments, Where the only sounds come from the ocean And all that is Continue reading

Written with a little help from e.e. cummings: i thank You God for most this amazing day: temperatures suiting themselves exactly and sitting out of doors, to eat; over questions taking long in answering which questioning owes vulnerability (if we let it) i thank You God for most this amazing day: touching of renewal with Continue reading

The morning takes time. Time to wake up, to make the coffee, to wrap my head around what needs to be done. On the way to school I pray for peace and most of all I pray for patience because that’s the only way to get through a day with middle school children. I arrive Continue reading

They didn’t have any spaghetti pasta at Trader Joe’s today. At least, none of the normal, white-flour spaghetti that I’m accustomed to buying. If it were any other sauce, I might have grabbed the packet of whole-wheat, but I couldn’t. I’ve never eaten my grandpa’s sauce with whole wheat pasta. It just isn’t done. I Continue reading

Yesterday I was a year younger. I pay attention Because twenty-five was different In the same way that seventeen Had its own alterations. Today it’s twenty-six Tomorrow it will be thirty-damn-two. Which will also be different, he said. But today I’m twenty-freaking-six And I have the cake to prove it. Continue reading