Underneath

I spent the weekend grading my students’ journals, and it made me want to post this poem, which was published in Encore: Prize Poems of the NFSPS in 2015. Underneath I straightened the mirror a couple of times,      so I have OCD, then got distracted by a dog,      so you added ADD. I washed my handsContinue reading “Underneath”

Be the Rubber Band

On Saturday night, while Austin was getting its relatively mild dose of Hurricane Harvey, we ordered Chinese food (and gave the poor delivery guy a hefty tip for braving the rain to bring us kung pao shrimp and egg rolls). When I finished eating, I opened my fortune cookie and found this: Um… what? IContinue reading “Be the Rubber Band”

Year 15: What I’ve Learned, Where I Am, What I Hope

Tomorrow I begin my fifteenth year of teaching 7th grade English, so naturally some reflection is in order. Last weekend I reminisced about my previous years of teaching on Twitter. (You can see the thread by searching #teacherlife #year15.) But now that the first day with students is almost here, I’m trying to compress allContinue reading “Year 15: What I’ve Learned, Where I Am, What I Hope”