Monthly Archives: June 2017

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Currently (as of last night)

11454297503_e27946e4ff_hI’ve had a tough time slicing lately. Somehow Tuesday comes along before I know it and once again, I’m floundering. Last night I was determined to have a slice to share today, so I fell back on the tried and true “Currently” structure. Please bear in mind that I wrote this last night. (My morning beverage of choice is a more acceptable orange juice with a splash of cranberry.)

Currently I am…

Wishing… for a nice cool breeze. The temps hit the low 90s today and it’s still sticky. I finally took the flannel sheets off the bed. (I hope I wasn’t too optimistic and that I don’t regret it in a few days!)

Looking at…the flowers blooming in my garden. The first of the rugosa roses have made an appearance and “…the green fists of the peonies are getting ready/ to break my heart…” (Mary Oliver—I recently read her poem Peonies for the first time (Thanks, Tara!) and then read it again…and again…and again…)

Planning… for the final two weeks of school. These may be the longest or the shortest two weeks in the history of the world.

Reading… my e-mail from TC about the June Reading Institute. Is anyone else going?

Writing… comments for report cards and trying not to repeat what I wrote in the last two trimesters. Searching for the perfect phrase…

Watching… the wine level in my glass go down.

Listening… to the evening chorus of the birds and to the far off sound of some motivated (or irate?) neighbor who is chopping or banging something.

Drinking…I’ll give you one guess 🙂 (Hint: see Watching…) I’m pretty convinced there’s some major evaporation going on here as well!

Eating…pretzels. I have a major pretzel problem—not just any old pretzels though. It’s Snyder’s Snaps all the way for me!

Mood…vacillating –so much to do, so much to reflect upon, so much to anticipate, so much to regret, so much to enjoy.  So much!

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Abandoned Farmhouse

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Abandoned Farmhouse
by Ted Kooser
He was a big man, says the size of his shoes
on a pile of broken dishes by the house;
a tall man too, says the length of the bed
in an upstairs room; and a good, God-fearing man,
says the Bible with a broken back
on the floor below the window, dusty with sun;
but not a man for farming, say the fields
cluttered with boulders and the leaky barn.
…..

(click on the title to read the remainder of the poem)

house3.jpgI read the above poem recently and thought immediately of the abandoned houses that haunt the back country roads in Maine. Their stories are palpable. Ted Kooser imagines one story, with an ominous tone, in a setting spiked with broken dishes and spines, boulders and leaky barns. His poem inspired me to revisit an old post and some pictures I’d taken long ago, and to write the following:

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Once upon a time…

The house had good bones
its story still stirs the air
like a haunting whisper
Once upon a time…

Big house
little house
back house
barn
like vertebrae on a spine
skinned with a coat of cheerful yellow
crowned with a jaunty red roof
waving a welcome
with blue and white curtains
at its windows

Now, open windows are blank eyes
Dulled yellow paint
peels from bone-dry clapboards
the red roof bucks and heaves
a fractured spine

No bark echoes in this yard
No drying clothes dance in a soft spring breeze
No child’s laughter trills
Even the birds seem silent here

Look
Listen

In a gaping window
the dusty curtains flutter
like a broken sigh

There is no graveyard
for houses that die

Molly Hogan (c) 2017

If you’re interested in learning about the “big house, little house, back house, barn” architecture so evident in Maine, click  here. If you’d like to read some more poetry at this week’s Poetry Friday Roundup, head over to A Year of Reading.

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Things To Do poem…

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A1LwE+CtJkLIf you haven’t yet read Elaine Magliero’s book “Things to Do”, I strongly encourage you to do so.  I owe a big shout out to Jama Rattigan for her delightful interview with Elaine Magliero, which inspired me to pick up this enchanting book.  I shared some of the poems with my class, and they were eager to try out this form. So was I! It’s a wonderful entryway into persona or mask poem writing. Ever since reading it, I’ve found myself thinking differently. What might I do if I was…moss? a cat? a house? Thinking this way, I looked at my favorite birch tree in a new light. It now seemed like the perfect subject for a Things to Do poem.

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Things to do if you’re a birch tree

Greet the rising sun
Sparkle with dew
Wave au revoir to the morning star
as each day starts anew

Shelter singing birds
Dangle a swing
Spread your skirt of dappled shade
Jewel your core with rings

Stretch your pale limbs wide
and reach up high
Create a crackled quilt of color
in azure summer skies

Sway with the breezes
Rustle your leaves
Cradle the full moon in your branches
on a soft and sultry eve

 

Molly Hogan (c) 2017

To enjoy more poetry, make sure to visit this week’s Poetry Friday Roundup at Buffy Silverman’s blog, Buffy’s Blog.