Cutie Pie Sunday: From Scared to Splash, A Swim Story in Haiku

Bath time is awesome
Swimming pools start out scary
Sameness wins out soon

Dunking dad is fun
But is mom glad he knows this?
Not after she swims

Mushroom sprays water
Crowd of cousins laughing loud
Maybe this is fun

Dad hoists me up high
Water in my nose: first time!
Still having fun, though

My Hawaiian shorts
Are wet and so am I: yay!
Not time to leave yet

Happy Boy pictured
Parents are also happy
New experience!

An Ode to My Husband, on Father's Day

Lincoln and his proud papa at Linc's first birthday party.

For over a year now you've been a proud dad,
You've helped me and helped him, and let me be mad.

You've cleaned up diapers--at least one a day!
And patiently work to earn monetary pay.

You've held him so I could run to the potty,
And let me ramble on when I start to get dotty.

You've listened to me ramble on historical topics,
And dreamed about maybe a visit to the tropics.

He loves you so much, my dear, and so do I,
We'd bake you a cake, or maybe a pie (if we had the time).

Happy Father's Day!

A Published Author

If you can find a Denver Post today (Tuesday), and find the lifestyle section, and read The $25 Haiku, you will read my first published work of "literature." I wrote the winning haiku on the theme of yarn:

My small son watches
Yarn twisting 'round my needles
His green hat growing

This has been a very exciting occurrence for this stay at home mom!

A Day of Mourning

Darn you, San Diego!
Once again, you snuck up on my Colties!
Darn you!
I grind my teeth and kick my water bottle in your general direction.

Darn you, end of Christmas Break!
Once again, you snuck up on me!
Darn you!
I grade frantically and grumpily prepare for school in your general direction!

I hope everyone had a delightful break--I will be back with tales of Christmas, yarny gift goodness, current projects, pregnancy updates, and so much more--once my first semester grades are entered, my classroom cleaned, and lessons planned for last week--it's 2009!

Spirit Week, in Haiku

Underroos on top
of jeans--too wild and wacky?
Does Ironman care?

My blast from the past
Looked back to my senior year
Is ten years the past?

Empowerment is
tons of teenage guys in pink--
maybe we can change.

Spray can hair color--
Blondes turn green, purple, orange--
I should have bought stock.

Be true to your school--
paint your face blue, red, white--
I can hear pores cry.

End of 28

I have finally learned that life is finite.
I am pressed to finish:
books projects painting knitting lesson plans cleaning laundry

I will not be here forever.
I can't take it with me:
books knitting cleaning

I will never finish every book I want to read.
Will there be British mystery novels in heaven?

I will never knit every project I want.
Will we create in heaven?

I am finding it hard to reconcile forever and never.
I like closure. I like knowing how things end. I like being in control.
It is tough to let that go--to not know.

8 is the beginning of knowledge. 18 is clueless invincibility. 28 is a recognition of mortality.
I am getting a bit weird about 29.

Per Request

There once was a lad in the Ukraine,
An axe left him in quite some pain,
Left to sit on his tuchus,
And to not cause a ruckus,
Let's hope it won't drive him insane.

The End of June--A Lament

For teachers who end school in May,
June delights in many a way.
Two months removed from August's bane,
when days of freedom start to wane,
June's every day is a breath of promise
free from student's negative comments.

But then--today! A horror indeed!
The calendar reads June Thirty!
In four scant days, the fourth of July,
when to summer we bid good-bye.
Everything now a rush to the start,
when freedom begins to depart.

You may argue we July have yet,
but I would make a quite large bet,
that school supplies in stores will be
before this doggerel you read.
But yes, I still have forty-one days,
before that back to school craze.

So now I make a solemn vow--
before summer takes its bow--
to live each day to its fullest extent,
and not wonder where the week went.
A scarf, a hat, something for fun--
for all I want is my knitting done.

If you read this, I'm impressed. It is pure and trashy doggerel. If only I could have lived in the Victorian era! Enjoy the last day of June!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of the day, I present:

The Lorica of St. Patrick

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today through the strength of Heaven
the rays of the sun,
the radiance of the moon,
the splendor of fire,
the speed of lightening,
the swiftness of the wind,
the depth of the sea,
the stability of the earth
the firmness of rock.

I arise today through the power of God:
God's might to comfort me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to lead me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's Heavenly Host to save me
from the snares of the devil,
from temptations to sin,
from all who wish me ill,
from near and afar, alone and with others.

May Christ shield me today
against poison and fire,
against drowning and wounding,
so that I may fulfill my mission
and bear fruit in abundance.
Christ behind and before me,
Christ behind and above me,
Christ with me and in me,
Christ around and about me,
Christ on my right and on my left,
Christ when I lie down at night,
Christ when I rise in the morning,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone that speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

- St Patrick

Standardized Testing: The Haikus

Students sit silent.
Comprehension or question?
Teachers are more stressed.

It is time for break.
Sudden loudness fills the halls.
Testing is pure peace.

I walk in circles,
Under a flourescent glare,
Fill in the bubbles.

I, I Will Survive

I leave you now to prepare for a four hour study hall, in which I will guard/trap/cage twenty-one freshmen so that they cannot disturb the testing sophomores. I have plans for test prep. I also brought movies.

Let's play similes!
Freshmen for four hours is like:
-visiting Chuck E. Cheese with septuplets
-sitting on a delayed plane on the tarmac for hours
-an extended stay at the monkey house at the zoo
What are your ideas?

Update: 3-11-2008, 14:17
Actually, it was quite pleasant. I managed to get them through about an hour of test prep, which they were quite good at, and then we happily watched movies and colored. Votes on my G/PG movies resulted in an animated water feature: Flushed Away and Finding Nemo. We enjoyed ourselves, but now must prepare for more testing tomorrow.

Final Simile: Four hours with freshmen is like my old job at the movie theatre, with less popcorn.

Pew Writing

John Meets Jesus--Take 2

I did not know him, but for the dove.

A bird, a voice speaking to me, the voice crying in the wilderness.

Pure, white, then light from clouds, just as white. "This is my son--I am well-pleased."

Joy, fear--the end of me is the beginning of Him.

But I did not know him, but for the Dove. I turned, spoke to my followers. "Be his--he is the Lamb of God--He takes away the sins of the world. Take His blood to complete my water."

I watched them hesitate, repeated myself, and looked at him--the light, the dove, the lamb.

I knew him--as I had leapt in the womb and first known him. The lamb!

I needed a locust.

I wrote this poem over three years ago--1-15-2005--while sitting in a church service. I like it more than almost anything I've written, so I thought it should be the first bit of writing I put up. The next poem was also written during that service. It was productive.


Facts & Figures

We can total up the world's population, food supplies, $, diseases, celebrities, weight, pets, race, gender--

But is there any way to total up the world's sin?

All of them?

Maybe a survey would help--