The Saga Continues into Fall

Since last post I have been studying. I aced summer school yippee!) and cannonballed into fall semester with five classes. It took about three weeks (and a 66 on an ethics quiz) to determine that five classes and full-time employment are like olive oil and water, they just don't mix. I dropped my linguistics class and all is well again.

Next semester I will take the linguistics class, literature, an introduction to fiction writing advanced poetry writing with Dorianne Laux. Since August I've been fortunate enough to study with Dorianne. if you don't know her, I would suggest a Google search. What I have learned from Dorianne is that you can throw a brick and hit a poet (seems everyone is looking to connect with their inner self), to write fearlessly, you can use the "f" word and get away with it, that writers simply must write and rewrite. I've learned that the poetry of Matthew Dickman rocks and that it is within my reach.

Adult Education 101

I managed to get through summer school with flying colors. I took two poetry classes. One was poetry as literature and the other was a beginning poetry writing workshop. Both classes were taught by Christopher Salerno. I pretty much enjoy all types of poetry but I spent a good part of my summer studying the romantics and came to the understanding that I need to be reading more modern poets. My favorite new poet is Matthew Dickman and his first book "All American Poem" arrived yesterday from Barnes & Noble.

This summer I also took a Shakespeare class during the second summer session. We studied seven of the tragedies and comedies in five weeks. You should be impressed as Hamlet has four thousand lines. I thought I might go insane by the end of it all. Tomorrow my family and I are going to see my Shakespeare instructor in "The Merchant of Venice."

Morning

Five more minutes,
chapter 10,
lost without my syllabus.
Pushing forward, reading back,
four weeks until
Shakespeare class.
I'm looking in nooks,
cubbies and dog-eared books for poems.
Brush, brush, brush-
the hair looks good painted
brown sugar.
My Secret,violets and sweet peas;
a dab of Eternitybetween the breasts.
I roll down the band,
sliding into his khaki shorts.
Five more minutes
before racing towards
the next big thing.

Honestly

I am a very bad blogger. This has been an interesting year for me to say the least. I have taken a leave from catering since Christmas after having a knee injury in January. Thankfully, I am on the mend and in good spirits.

Hubby and I are eternally renovating the house and I still have a few overdue library books. Not much has changed except that I'm a little older. I almost forgot to mention that I have returned to school to finish my creative writing degree. I'm enrolled in two poetry classes right now and will begin a survey of Shakespeare in two weeks followed by five classes in the fall. Busy life, busy me.