Canon in Dark

The rain pommels the air conditioner

like endlessly-draining faucet. 

Lightning scores the sky in a white-hot scar. 

Thunder growls threateningly, boding I don't know what.

The elements are partying hard. 

Bewildered cat looks fearfully for the demon causing this tempest. 

Neighbor dog sits puddle-glum; the rain prevents his play

Big-tall husband bang-congs his head on a too-low bean, it's that dark. 

Cars slink by, skrishing through a sluice of rainwater. 

My lazy teen sleeps blissfully in the soporific storm. 

The only light is the glow-worm of my computer screen. 

Where I hunch hermit-like at the monitor

eking out shekels from syllables

like Poe's Raven, evermore penning, penning

Is there a metaphor here?

Some cosmic truth I'm supposed to extrapolate from this weather melee?

Does nature's trifecta simulate an existential battle?

If so, it's lost on me.

I'm just thanking my genius loci for the foresight to buy a battery-powered laptop. 

How to Write an Awesome Graduation Speech Students Will Remember

It's that time again: time for cap and gown, pomp and circumstance. Time to bid farewell to the graduating seniors. Do you have to write a graduation speech? It's a great honor, but it can be intimidating, too. Here are tips to write a graduation speech that leaves them speechless (with admiration, that is).

Remember K.I.S.S - Keep is short and simple. Whether you are a professional speech maker, seasoned veteran speaker or novice senior making giving your first public talk, use this rule of thumb. Make your point. Don't belabor to fill time. With graduation speeches, less is more and more is boring.  How to Write an Awesome Graduation Speech

Iambic Pentameter to Mary-Therese Sachteleben, Born and Died 1/5/2000

her eyes, green-gray still waters, do not cry
not mirror nor window of soul's
dark spaces,
guardians hold prisoner, secrets shy
in soft tranquil deep and twilight traces
her skin, like dogwood blossoms translucent
rose petal fair and water-lily pale
heaven-bound as nimbus, storm-cloud spent
fresh as a lamb, nested quiet in vale  (read more at Waterlily Rose Maiden)

A Happy Freelance Writer Moment

Freelance writing, like any other profession, can feel thankless and go-nowhere sometimes. Negative feedback from online trolls, lonliness from work-at-home environment, scrabbling for assignments, having to write stultifying content for word mills, forgoing work in the magnum  opii, in lieu of writing for less-interesting, paid jobs--I've done all these. 

 Sometimes I feel ashamed for not pursuing my higher writer calls. But then it might just be that it's a grey gloomy day and I miss when kids were little. At any rate, we all get our little celebrations and I got one this weekend. I write a regular beat about local events in a major nearby city. I'd included a symphony orchestra chorale. I was delighted to be contacted by a PR rep asking me to cover an upcoming concert and offering me complimentary tickets to the event. 

It's to be hosted at the magnificent Detroit Symphony Orchestra hall. My husband, daughter and I will be able to visit with our son who lives there and take him to the ensemble production as well. I love these kind of exchanges--arts and culture for my work. And it honors and humbles me to know my work is read and appreciated and that I'm getting a name in the journalism field. It just reminds me that if I'm passionate about what I do, if I do it to the best of my ability, if I cast good bread upon the waters, sometimes it comes back ten-fold! Blessings to you in your endeavors!

Al-Anon Slogans for Coping with Stress: Easy Does It

I just had a major meltdown the other day. When I was a younger mom, I had them more frequently. I'd been doing so much better and it makes me mad that I had one. But I know now to look to the source of the problem. And I found it--pushing myself too hard. After talking to husband and kids (and apologizing profusely), they all said that I didn't rest enough. Which was kind of them to empathize but I still feel badly. But maybe it's also time to start forgiving myself and letting up a bit, too. 

I'm trained as teacher but can't find a job, so I write online. Since I started this job we've been able to dig out of debt, thanks be the higher power I choose to call God. I'm glad we don't owe and I'm terrified of going back there. So I push myself--hard. As my oldest says, my reward to myself for a day of work is more work. Not good. I cracked. So I went back to my AlAnon roots to see where I went wrong. Alanon and AA, or Alcoholics Anonymous have wonderful and witty slogans that I use to guide my life.

For coping with stress, worry and tension, I remembered 'Easy Does It'. Another version of this slogan says, 'Easy does it does it Best." If I'm constantly driving myself to achieve more, I'm hardly taking it easy! So writers, let's meditate on the wisdom of "Easy Does it" so we don't drive ourselves and everyone crazy, but most importantly so we can learn to say "well done" instead of "damn you, lazy person! You're a failure!" (those are my old self-messages--perhaps you're familiar with them. It's time you and I started being nice to ourselves, right? 

Advent Musings--Week Two, Hope

This is an Advent essay I wrote. Week 2 of Advent focuses on hope and here are my thoughts on that. 

He slams into his second grade classroom, like a Lord of Flatbush, late as usual, angry as always. He must have read Hitler's Mein Kompf, about the way to make a grand entrance. Arrive late; leave early. He does. He hides, sneaks off and causes adults to hunt for him whenever possible. Despite weighing at sub-pee-wee weight, about 50# and reaching only to my belly button, he packs a lot of p*ss and vinegar.

Flaxen blond hair in a military cut, darting cornflower blue eyes always watching to see if teacher is noticing his antics (I am, but avoiding the reinforcement of negative attention). Pale, unhealthy skin, translucent to show dark shadows under the eyes (allergies, lack of sleep, poor nutrition, too much TV or a combination). Thin wrists and fingers, he always looks tired, cold and lonely, despite his belligerence. As though being mean is the only thing that keeps him going. 

 He does everything he can think of to get into trouble. He goes to the office and causes more trouble. Nobody is really sure just what to do with him or for him. Calling home is no solution. Parents can't (won't?) make him behave. No judgement. Mom and dad are both working hard to provide. There are four children in the family. In Michigan we've got the distinction having the highest unemployment rate. Jobs are scarce, especially is you didn't or couldn't get a good education. Even if you did, we have teachers selling shoes to make ends meet.

Recess time: Michigan windchill in the single digits and snow blowing sideways. I help 48 feet get into 48 boots. I check 24 warm coats and snow pants to make sure that they are are zipped up snugly. There are no snow-pants or boots for one student. You can guess who. Oh there's a coat but it's a man's large with a broken zipper. I've got playground duty. Even dressed in my warm clothes, I can feel the annual winter laryngitis setting in. He stays in the alcoves of the school to stay warm. Standing by an unused door, he shouts and hollers to drum up a crowd. I know that he's hiding out to stay warm; showing off to cover up that fact. He's not hurting anything. Just making a lot of noise.

Another sub is in the room next door. She's insecure and wants to prove herself. It's funny how you just know this about people. No judgement. Well maybe just a bit. Leave the attitude at the office if you're going to do our job. She marches to the unused door and pulls the loud one in. Startled, (the students never use this door) he shifts nervously from one foot to the other. 

He's been having a great day so far and I'm tickled (so are the other kids). Are we making a nanometer of progress? Under her withering criticism and menacingly soft-shaming voice, I can see his tiny, poorly clad back go up (apparently she doesn't notice that this kid hasn't even got proper clothes?) I guess yelling on the playground is forbidden in her book. She has obviously "been trained" to "deal" with this-sort-of-child". And she does. Coldly. Ruthlessly. Stupidly.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. I'm no angel, but I have common sense and I choose my battles. I don't step in, I never question an adult in front of a child. But I almost did. She had marched him to his classroom and the facetiousness in her voice made me sick. She had her gotcha moment, done and dusted. Would a little kindness have cost her so much? We were both going to gone the next day to other jobs? Why was it so damned important to win against this child who obviously had a lot stacked against him? 

As I walked him down the hall, he muttered to me "I didn't know she could hear me." I was on a thin line here. I didn't want to confuse him by criticizing her. I didn't want to undermine her. I said, "well, each teacher has her own style. It's not mine. And now you know that people can hear you."  I can't even say, "go back outside and enjoy your recess, because clearly, he can't, it being too cold." Predictably, his behavior spiraled downward after that. 

So what do we do with a kid like that? Spare the rod and spoil the child? I can't see that he's been spoiled much. I'm only a sub, but I talked with his teacher about what to do. I said I'd like to donate a whole brand-new winter outfit: snow pants, coat, gloves, hat, boots. Leave them in the office with a note: With Love to D-- . But what about the other 3 kids in his family ? I can't really afford the first set of clothes, let alone four complete sets. He's not the only kid in the school who could use an upgrade in winter clothing, either. And what about the family? Will they be embarrassed? Will I be 'enabling' them? I don't even care. I just can't stand to see a cold kid.

My Advent hope is in the coming of Our Lord. It's also that there is some way that I can help these kids.

How to Write Japanese Haiku Poems

Haiku poems are more than just 17 syllables in three lines of 5-7-5 syllabication. Many styles of Japanese poetry rely on syllable count to establish poem structure, similar to the Greek iambic or "feet" (or meter) poems. Notable are the iambic pentameter poems, composed of five lines with ten syllables each. Haiku and senryu are structured on "mora" or "on" which are similar to syllables, but not an exact correlation. "On" in Haiku and Senryu is similar to iambic feet, which are patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables. Thus haiku are cadence (rhythm) poems vs. rhyme poems, but the similarity of western poetry ends there. Use this guide to teach haiku writing or to write your own. 

Haiku are essentially nature poems and rather aesthetic. Haiku contain kireji (cutting word) and kigo (seasonal word). A true haiku contains a mood or tone shift and the kireji is the cut-off between moods. Kireji words shift the tone. As haiku is a Japanese form of poetry, the words don't translate absolutely, nor even sometimes partially to other languages. In haiku written in English for example to cutting word will depend upon the original thought expressed in the poem. Kigo would be any word referring to season or nature, often a specific plant or animal.

In Miyoshi's haiku

In storm-tossed grassland,

one leaf, one praying mantis,

tremble together.'

we see and feel the shift. Normally leaf is eaten by praying mantis. In a storm they are united against the wind, one clinging to the other for support, no longer predator and prey. Without a knowledge of Japanese, I can only guess at the kireji, but I'm thinking that it would be 'together'. The kigo are the leaf, mantis and possibly even storm. The tone doesn't come full circle and it may not be a diametric opposite, as with the praying mantis and leaf, but there is a shift in focus. Here's another well-known Haiku

Red dragonfly on

my shoulder calls me his friend.

 Autumn has arrived'

The shift here is from summer to fall. And haiku like so many aspects of Japanese life, focuses on the simple contemplation of one idea. Japanese art, floral arrangement, gardens, architecture and food reflect simplicity and purity. Haiku distill a multitude of words and thoughts into one essential verse.

When writing haiku, focus on nature and especially seasonal topics. Work that shift into the poem. To explore senryu, please see my article, Haiku vs. Senryu: Nature vs. Nurture.