Headquarters

Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Music, when soft voices die"

Music, when soft voices die,
Vibrates in the memory,
Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
Live within the sense they quicken.

Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,
Are heaped for the beloved's bed;
And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,
Love itself shall slumber on.


Hi everyone. Posting from my living room today. I love this point in the semester because by now you know all you need to know to finish this class, pretty much. So today, just spend your time doing what you know needs to be done.

You should continue the process of making your chapbook file. If you have questions, refer to the instructions on the notes page. Or ask around. My hope is that by Friday you can have your chapbooks printed and ready to sew with me. I will try to have paper you can buy from me on Thursday, though supplies may run low.

If you have not already, you should re-read the requirements for the anthology presentation, also found on the class notes page. Please understand that the poetry video assignment can be challenging. If you don't think you can record your own reading, you will have to find your poet's poem online, which is not a real likely proposition. The Foundation site has some audio, as does this one, where you can search by author.

You should also consider doing an exercise or two in our textbook to prepare yourself for the test tomorrow.

I can't believe how fast this semester is going.

See you tomorrow.

Po Chu-i (772-846), "Night Snow"

I wondered why the covers felt so cold,
and then I saw how bright my window was.
Night far gone, I know the snow must be deep --
from time to time I hear the bamboos cracking.

Sharon Olds, "First Thanksgiving"

This week is "Make Week"! You've done all of the intellectual work--now it's time for something more purely creative:

• Make the template that you will print to make your chapbook!
• Print and bind the chapbook itself!
• Prepare your semester presentation!
• Memorize a poem you want to feature in your presentation!
• Edit a poem video for your presentation!

This week is about giving you the time and support you need to create. Let me know when you need help, because presentations begin next Monday.

from Postsecret

Today: eBooks are due by 5:00. If you are having trouble pasting in your poems, you may paste in links instead, but please, only as a last resort.

Today: our final work on our editor's notes! Have a conference with me, or get started on your eBook! See the Notes section for the directions.

Today's poem?

Today: Student's choice.

Remember: the Unit 10 Vocab test takes place on Friday.

And: the final draft of your editor's note is due next Tuesday. You will be submitting the editor's note electronically, with your poems, as an "eBook" to my Homework page by no later than 5:00 pm, that Tuesday.

Class time until then will be devoted to revision, the preparation of your presentation components, your Moleskine, and independent reading.

Today's poem: student's choice

Yusef Komunyakaa, "We Never Know"

So, today concludes the last week that you will be reading and writing about your reading for this class. For this last official post, call it "Finally," maybe, I would like you to compose a 250 word informal response to any of the following questions:

How would you characterize yourself as a reader when you started this class? How independent were you? What kinds of things would you read on your own? How often would you read on your own? Where or why would you read?

During the course of this semester, what kind of reading did you do? Was it easy to find things that interested you? Did you have trouble finding something you could stick with? How did you choose the things you read? Did you have trouble meeting the weekly page quota?

Where and when did you find yourself sitting down to read? Do you tend to read with music on, or in silence? By the computer? Did you find yourself checking your phone a lot, or do you ever lose yourself in the reading? Do you ever talk about the books you read with your family or friends or teachers?

Now, at the end of the semester, have you changed in any way as a reader? Do you read the same types of books you did at the beginning, or have you discovered any new types of writing that you like? Are you more or less likely, do you think, to read independently this summer? What do you think you might read next?

After considering these questions, consider reading, visiting and commenting on your friends' blogs, or continuing work on your anthology.

W.S. Merwin, "When the War is Over"

"Masks" by Shel Silverstein

She had blue skin,

And so did he.

He kept it hid

And so did she.

They searched for blue

Their whole life through,

Then passed right by--

And never knew.

Han Yu, "Losing My Teeth"

Last year a tooth dropped,
this year another one,
then six or seven went fast
and the falling is not going to stop.
All the rest are loose
and it will end when they are all gone.
I remember when I lost the first
I felt ashamed of the gap.
When two or three followed,
I worried about death.
When one is about to come loose,
I am anxious and fearful
since forked teeth are awkward with food,
and in dread I tilt my face to rinse my mouth.
Eventually it will abandon me and drop
just like a landslide.
By now the falling-out is old hat,
each tooth goes just like the others.
Fortunately I have about twenty left.
One by one they will go in order.
If one goes each year,
I have enough to last two dozen years.
Actually it does not make much difference
if they go together or separately.
People say when teeth fall out
your life is fading.
I say life has its own end;
long life, short life, we all die.
People speak of the gaps in my teeth,
and all gaze at me in shock.
I quote Zhuangzi's story –
a tree and a wild goose each has its advantages,
and though silence is better than slurring my words
and though I can't chew, at least soft food tastes great
and I can sing out this poem
to surprise my wife and kids.

Sharon Olds, "Topography"

Nick Flynn, "Cartoon Physics, part 1"

Today: a currently post, a response if you have anything to say about your reading recently, and
submit your week #3 goal to my class homework folder. Make sure your filename reads "lastnameLIST" and that the file includes just your theme, a list of five poems + authors, and claims for two of those poems.

After you complete those steps, begin work on the partial editor's note draft that is due next Wednesday. Look at the annotated sample editor's note on the class notes page for ideas and an explanation of the intro paragraph.

And think about showing me some of your work. Between now and Thanksgiving, I need you to bring me at least one paragraph of your draft editor's note during class so that we can discuss ways to make it stronger. These conferences are worth a grade, so you're basically getting points just for asking for help.

So, work well today, and have a nice weekend.

Linda Pastan, "To a Daughter Leaving Home"

Shinkichi Takahashi, "Burning Oneself to Death"

That was the best moment of the monk’s life.

Firm on a pile of firewood

With nothing more to say, hear, see,

Smoke wrapped him, his folded hands blazed.

There was nothing more to do, the end

Of everything. He remembered, as a cool breeze

Streamed through him, that one is always

In the same place, and that there is no time.

Suddenly, a whirling mushroom cloud rose

Before his singed eyes, and he was a mass

Of flame. Globes, one after another, rolled out,

The delighted sparrows flew round like fire balls.

For a sample response to this poem, see the file on our Notes page.

Brian Turner, "Here, Bullet"

Today, some class notes first:

1. From here on out, this class is self-directed. How you use your time is up to you so long as you are engaged in a some activity in pursuit of one of your class goals: The Anthology Project, your Moleskine collection, Independent Reading, Vocabulary.

2. For our week #3 goal, I would also like you to include working claims for two of those five poems. Please submit these to my homework folder "Week #3 goal--lists and claims" and use the filename "lastnameLIST."

3. Finish strong with your reading and blogging. We will conclude our blogging expectations at the end of next week, Friday 11/11.

Brian Turner, "Here, Bullet"

If a body is what you want,
then here is bone and gristle and flesh.
Here is the clavicle-snapped wish,
the aorta’s opened valves, the leap
thought makes at the synaptic gap.
Here is the adrenaline rush you crave,
that inexorable flight, that insane puncture
into heat and blood. And I dare you to finish
what you’ve started. Because here, Bullet,
here is where I complete the word you bring
hissing through the air, here is where I moan
the barrel’s cold esophagus, triggering
my tongue’s explosives for the rifling I have
inside of me, each twist of the round
spun deeper, because here, Bullet,
here is where the world ends, every time.