Whole

No two objects can occupy the same space at the same time.

As I was driving home Wednesday afternoon, red-eyed and exhausted from saying goodbye at my last day of work at Babson, I heard someone on the radio talk about the Pauli exclusion principle. (Yes, I listen to discussions of quantum theory on my long commutes). No two objects can occupy the same space at the same time.

The spiritual side of this theory is that you can’t heal if you’re stuck in a rut. We have to move, and keep moving, to grow. Our bodies—our muscles in particular—are made to tear and repair. That’s how we build muscle mass. We are made to do the hard work of healing, and as a result, we get stronger. Maybe this is why Mark Strand’s poem “Keeping Things Whole” is a touchstone for me.

Fast forward to Friday. I wake up, get the kids off to school, and go to the gym for the first time in weeks (and find out that I haven’t gained any weight since the last time I checked—woo hoo!). I met my friend Colleen for morning tea. Then off to Salem State to do some work and attend a faculty lunch. And later, I attend two Mass Poetry Festival meetings, after which I feel completely weighted down. Yet, I come home completely satisfied. Dare I say it? Whole.


Keeping Things Whole
In a field
I am the absence
of field.
This is
always the case.
Wherever I am
I am what is missing.

When I walk
I part the air
and always
the air moves in
to fill the spaces
where my body's been.

We all have reasons
for moving.
I move
to keep things whole.


~ from Selected Poems by Mark Strand. Copyright © 1980 by Mark Strand

Ode to An Exiting Poet

My friend and now former coworker, Melissa Jolly, wrote and designed this lovely poem for my last day at Babson (click to enlarge). For those who don't know, Melissa designed the new Mass Poetry logo and her graphic design company created the famous ink spot Mass Poetry Festival logo.

Thanks, Melissa!
XO

Mass Poetry Updates

The Massachusetts Poetry Festival has just announced three of its headline poets for Saturday night, April 21: Nikky Finney, Joy Harjo, and Wesley McNair.

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Our 2012 selection of Common Threads, our group reading and discussion program, has been announced. Here are the selections:

“The Author to Her Book” – Anne Bradstreet (2012 is the 400th anniversary of her birth)
“The Fire of Drift-Wood”- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Poem 1129 – Emily Dickinson (tell it slant)
“For the Union Dead” – Robert Lowell
“The Hardness Scale” – Joyce Peseroff
“Horseface” - Sam Cornish
“if see no end in is” – Frank Bidart
“Out at Lanesville”- David Ferry
“Baseball” – Gail Mazur

This collection of rich and varied, yet interconnected poets have a Commonwealth commection.
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And for students, here’s info on our Mass Poetry-sponsored student events: Student Day of Poetry and the slam festival, Louder Than a Bomb.

Confession Tuesday

Happy Last Day of January! (Sounds weird, coming from me.) Time for your confessions. Share a little of yourself with us and we promise to do the same.

I’m in a weird place right now. I feel stretched between three jobs and my home life—and not doing any of them particularly well. I thrive on focus, so when I have too many parts of my life competing for attention, it stresses me out. Fortunately (and unfortunately) one of my three jobs will end tomorrow. My hope is by Friday, I can get back to a semi-hectic life.

The lack of writing poetry this month is killing me. But I had to sacrifice writing for sleep.

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As I was leaving class at Salem State, it hit me that tomorrow will be my last day at Babson. Yesterday, with the calming words of a good friend, I decided to roll with whatever emotions come. I need to be in the moment for this. I want to celebrate all that I’ve accomplished with a great team of folks. As you would expect, they are working me to the bone until the very last hour. But I am happy to do it. I will miss my friends dearly. We will celebrate as we always do: with food!

*Getting weepy. Must write about something else.*

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I’m considering doing a cleanse. But I like solid food way too much to commit—*sigh*

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One thing I’m looking forward to is taking my kids to school for the first time in a very long time. I have family help out with all drop offs and pickups. Ella always tells me which moms are standing outside with their kids and I know she feels left out. Just one more reminder that this career move is absolutely the right choice for me.

Improbable Places Poetry Tour: All-Skate!

OMG! This may be the best Improbable yet!!

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The Improbable Places Poetry Tour
All-Skate!

Wednesday, February 29, at 7 p.m.

The Beverly Roller Palace
130 Sohier Road, Beverly, MA

What's this tour all about? Well, it's Montserrat College of Art's way of bringing together student writers, local poets, area businesses, and enthusiastic listeners to celebrate the power of poetry and community. Each month, a new venue and theme will be selected. This month's venue is a roller skating rink.

A poem at a roller rink, huh? That’s right, folks. Ralph Waldo Emerson said that “good writing is a type of skating,” and on this tour stop we are testing the correlation. Is good writing just like skating when everyone is on eight wheels with leather tongues?

What’s this month’s prompt? Start with a wheel. Now you’re on a roll. Maybe you’ve got a poem about going in circles, or you’ve mastered the rondeau. I’m sure there are some strong poems about weak ankles and broken hearts. Whether your soundtrack is organ pipes, Xanadu, or the silent geometry of a circle, we want poems that move us.

Hey, I've got just the poem for this month’s tour. Can I read it? We are accepting submissions via email at colleen.michaels@montserrat.edu and in the Writing Center, located on the 2nd floor of Montserrat’s library. The deadline is Friday, February 24. We'd love to read your work!

I don’t write poetry, but I sure am interested in this tour. Can I still attend the event? Absolutely! Come and listen and cheer on the readers at 7 p.m. While you are welcome to take a seat, you are also invited to grab a pair of skates and circle the poets. The snack bar will be open, the rentals and skating are free, and poets are controlling the DJ booth and disco ball until 9 p.m.

Wait! I've still got questions! Just talk to Colleen Michaels, Montserrat's Writing Center Director. She's at cmichaels@montserrat.edu or 978-921-4242, ext. 1254.

Slouching Toward Starbucks

Hello luscious! I've missed you.

All day I have been waiting to get a few hours to myself at my friendly neighborhood Starbucks. I take a sip of my venti hot chocolate and my whole body says, "Thank you!"

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What a week! With teaching, working my desk job, and Mass Poetry biz--oh, and being a mom--I'm wiped out. Just one more week of this madness and I'll be done with the desk job. Extremely bittersweet to leave the people I work with at Babson--my second family.

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Decided to blog a little, then answer a few emails, and then start a poem or two while I'm here. Amy Winehouse plays on my first-gen iPod (there's no school like the old school). Very crowded at my Starbucks. Not sure if it says more about the patrons or me on a Friday night.

We've got another kidtastic weekend on the books, so I'm happy for the only respite scheduled for the next 48 hours.

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I'm on Boston.com!

Carolyn Forché Reads at Babson: February 8

The 2012 Charles D. and Marjorie J. Thompson Visiting Poet is Carolyn Forché.















Who: Carolyn Forché, award-winning poet
When: Wednesday, February 8, 2012, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Sorenson Center for the Arts, Babson College, Wellesley, Massachusetts
Info: Admission is free; the public is welcome.

Forché's books of poetry include: Blue Hour (HarperCollins, 2004); The Angel of History (1994), which received the Los Angeles Times Book Award; The Country Between Us (1982), which received the Poetry Society of America's Alice Fay di Castagnola Award, and was the Lamont Poetry Selection of The Academy of American Poets; and Gathering the Tribes (1976), which was selected for the Yale Series of Younger Poets by Stanley Kunitz. She is also the editor of Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness (1993). [Photo credit: Emma Dodge Hanson]


Hope you can make it!

Confession Tuesday

Happy Tuesday, folks! Time for your confessions. Unburden yourself. Share a little piece of your life and we promise to do the same.


I saw this tagline attached to a Crest toothpaste ad:

Life opens up when you do.

It’s the simplest little thing (and I’m not sure what it has to do with cavity protection) but it’s true. The past two years have been about change. If you had told me I would be teaching in a classroom and running a major festival, I wouldn’t have believed you. No way. Yet I have tried to stay open to all possibilities, trying to match my voice to my values. And here I am, still standing, a little more tired than usual. I am here.

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I was inspired this morning by Carolee’s post. I understand exactly where she is right now. Go over and give her a little encouragement. Making a life difficult change and coming out the other side in a good place is worth celebrating.

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For the next week, I will continue to transition from one job to the next. It is really too much of a balancing act to stretch myself this thin. But once it’s over, I’m looking forward to having new routines. Being able to set my schedule, spend more time with the kids, and carve out time to exercise and write—I can’t wait!

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As I type this, I can hear my daughter singing in the other room. She is the other early bird in the house. I am thankful for those little moments. Collect enough of them and they make a life.

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My creative writing class will be writing their first poems to hand in this week. So I’m going to try to complete one by Thursday. It will be my first poem of 2012. *sigh*

To-do list:

1. Write one poem
2. Submit to two journals
3. Mail in contract for second book and manuscript revisions
4. Start reading a new poetry collection
5. Take more photos. My blog has been seriously lacking photos
6. Clean my desk

If I don’t create a list, nothing gets done.

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Mass Poetry wrote a nice five-question interview with me. And, here’s a preview of what’s coming for the April festival.

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Thanks for all the messages and emails of support. I’m a bit overwhelmed but will try to get to all of them this week.