I'm fucking old...ish

I love putting the suffixes -ish and -esque at the end of words. It gives finite words a sense of vagueness. It's also a copout for choosing a more accurate word for what one wants to say.

I'm still doing the daily poetry prompts. Instead of posting them here, I'll just post them at the prescribed site:http://3030poetry.com/

Anyway, I uttered a simple question in class today and, upon having no students' hands affirmatively raised, I came to the conclusion: I'm old...ish.

We were discussing use of the vocab word "recuperation." I described the first real-world example that came to mind, Gloria Estefan's bus tour accident in the early 1990s. I asked, "Has anyone here heard of Gloria Estefan?" Not one hand went in the air. I added, "She was popular in the late 80s and early 90s. She is like Jennifer Lopez from previous years."

At home, I googled "Coming Out of the Dark," her hit 1991 single. The song has fairly cheesy symbolism and metaphors and features an overly dramatic choir in the background. Nonetheless, listening to the song made me smile. It makes me think of other hit songs by Estefan: "Cuts Both Ways" (beautiful love ballad), "Bad Boys" (the video featuring large 80s hair and eyebrows, in addition to men costumed as cats), and so on.

So..maybe I am oldish...music videos from my "youth" are awesomely hilarious...and gray hairs do not matter...if I spy any within my mousy brown hair, I just snag them out. 

Animatronic Head

30/30 Poem of the Day

Animatronic Head

Driving on NJ highways is best done

with an animatronic mind.

Stare straight ahead at the expanse of asphalt,

gemmed with small splinters of glass.

Keep the speedometer between 65 and 70,

the neon orange dial slowly seesawing.

Pay the other drivers no attention

and simply bob your head back and forth,

a pendulum moving to the beat of a song

heard one thousand times before.

Stay unaware of the line of tail lights

signaling the long pathway to your destination.

You realize that the machine mindset will bring

the most success

and the least frustration.

But human nature can’t stop you from

noticing the vibrant wildflowers

on the side of the highway,

scattered as if someone made a bet

as to whether or not he could make you smile. 

30/30 Challenge... a few days late

Read a blog post about a poetry writing challenge for April. The idea is to compose a poem each day of the month. I found a site, http://wordxwordfestival.com/challenge/index.html, that gives daily prompts for writers. While the idea of using prompts bothers me (I'd much rather come up with my own ideas), it does help with getting the writing process started.

This is my poem for 4/5...and yes, I realize that today is 4/6. The prompt was "then and now."

Then and Now

Alert, curious azure eyes taking in her surroundings

Straying eyes that look for escapes from reality

Words sputtering from a mouth, bubble-like, one after another

Thoughts perpetually contained, anxious and unrefined

Digital numbers inviting her to welcome the day’s possibilities

Mind-numbing lists of tasks to do and people to tolerate

Roads to traverse, feeling newly turned earth beneath her feet

Old, cracked dirt piled atop her dreams.  

City jitters

Most people have a consensus of what cities are like: crowded, louder than the 'burbs, busier, and with more things to do.  My conception of the city is: pure and utter chaos, droves of people streaming into one another, ridiculous expenses, and lots of things to do.

I think I am partially cursed, in that our nearest "big city" is New York City. According to worldatlas.com, NYC is the fourth most populated city in the world, with over 19 million people---and this is the city I have to live near?!

We have visited other U.S. cities and enjoyed them. Chicago (6 million population) seemed easy to navigate. If you got "lost," you did not feel like you were utterly screwed. We could tell when we were walking into a "bad section," but in actuality, it did not feel all that dangerous or threatening. Parking right by Cubs Stadium was crazy cheap. The people were nice too. We've been to Milwaukee (whoa- population under 600,000!). That was a comical experience. We wanted to visit a brewery and with out NYC state of mind we scrambled for the first parking spot we saw. We proceeded to walk about 3/4 mile to the brewery, only to find copious parking spaces in front of the brewery. We've been to Charleston, Savannah, D.C., and other cities and have had pleasant experiences.

But NYC--utter chaos.

We went there yesterday for a day trip, which I'll go into more detail next time...I just wish we were in closer proximity to a different city. I'd take Charleston. What I remember about Charleston is the eerie sounds of large bugs skittering across the sidewalks at night. Other than that, it was a quiet and polite city.

Modern Chaos

There are many times during the week when the following chant repeats in my mind: "the chaos of the modern world." This mini-chant does not occur once or twice within the week, but at least 10-15 times.

I savor silence. Even when my surroundings are classifiable as quiet, I can still sense noises around me: the sputtering of the gutter outside when rain droplets trickle onto it; the soft buzzing noises that the turned-on computer makes; the sounds of cars passing by outside; the sound of lawnmowers and other yard equipment being used at houses, even distances away...

When I am at work, I am most productive when barely anyone is left in the building. Interestingly, during my prep periods within the school day, I always have music playing in the background. Once the school is almost empty, I just grade papers and plan lessons with silence.

It seems like I would be a prime candidate for nature-living... like Thoreau. I don't feel that comfortable amidst nature though and, as foolish as it may seem, my mind churns with visions of being mauled by bears or something else catastrophic. I am "ok" with being a suburban person...but just wish silence were more frequent.