The Crooked Treehouse
  • Tips From The Bar
  • Honest Conversation Is Overrated
  • Popcorn Culture
  • Comically Obsessed
  • Justify Your Bookshelves

Interactionality

Usually poetic conversations between authors and texts.

Kindergarten Poem From "I Just Want Every Teacher To Live"

9/27/2020

0 Comments

 
I've been spending the last couple of months working on a project called I Just Want Every Teacher To Live but all of the poems keep ending up sounding like other poems I've written.

Recently, Catherine Weiss has posted about a form they invented called The Rex. Their description of the form is as follows:

stanza 1: factoid from history or science, etc
stanza 2: personal commentary on the factoid
stanza 3: a digression
stanza 4: a reckoning
stanza 5: a repetition of stanza #2 with new meaning & context
 

I've rewritten what is likely the firs poem of the manuscript to be a Rex. I might end up writing more of them in the future. Thanks, Catherine.

Appreciation

 1. The shadow blister effect is a visual phenomenon
in which a shadow bulges as it approaches
another shadow It takes
place when two objects are
at different distances from the light
source The object nearest
the light source begins blocking the light
from the more distant object
so that it appears to reach out and pull
the other object’s shadow into it

2. Mrs taylor taught every aspect of school
to our kindergarten class Reading Math Art Music Gym
Storytime Recess Everything
I remember only three things about her
besides her appearance She owned a player piano
that she used when hosting singalong field trips to her house She hastily built
a platform out of chair legs and wooden pallets
the day roaches invaded our school
during morning session And once a week During naptime
she would select one child to pose for
a silhouette drawing Where she would shine a light on your profile And trace
the shadow She would hold
on to it for a week Adding details
from memory Your eyes Your smile The shadow
of your sundial nose The further from the moment
she turned the light off The more your silhouette
resembled your face

3.What do you say
she asked After she turned off the light?
It looks good  I reply
No What do you say?
I am staring at the lightbulb as it grows dark I like it
She sighs Close Thank you
I smile You’re welcome
She stares at my face Thank you
I smile You’re welcome?
She sighs
Thank
You

I smile Thank You?
She smiles You’re welcome

4. Thank you became a mantra
to every teacher Every friend Every relative
Thank you Thank you Mrs taylor says I should
say Thank you Thank you mrs taylor I am a player
piano of appreciation Don’t ever again want to feel like i
haven’t shown proper thank you Tell me
how i can thank someone
properly Everyone does so much
for me Even when i don’t know
how to ask Thank you
Thank you every mrs taylor for trying
to make me look more like i felt inside
when i was still a child For being patient
with my bewilderment at what people wanted
from me When all i wanted was everyone
to be happy with me Thank you

​5. Mrs taylor taught every aspect of school to our kindergarten
class Reading Math Art Music Gym Storytime Recess
Everything Once a week
During naptime she would select one child to pose
for a silhouette drawing Where she would shine
a light on your profile And trace the shadow She would
hold on to it for a week Adding details
from memory Your eyes
Your smile The shadow of your sundial nose
The further from the moment  she turned the light off
The more your silhouette resembled your face

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Interactionality

    An ongoing conversation between writers and the text that they're reading.

    Adam Stone is reading multiple collections of poetry each week, and producing a piece of writing or a series of prompts inspired by the text. It might be a poem in the voice of the author. It might be a memory involving the person who suggested the book to him. He might steal the title of a poem and use it to create a collage about his oh-so-inspiring childhood.

    To help keep him accountable, he's asked other writers that he both likes and likes working with to join him in writing their own interaction or two. With their permission, some of their interactions will also be posted here, clearly tagged with their names.

    There might even be interaction between Adam's interactions and an interaction written by someone else. The only rules of this project is to read more poetry and create more art.

    Archives

    September 2020
    January 2020
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016

    Categories

    All
    Ada Limón
    Adam Stone
    Aimee Nezhukumatathil
    Andrew Campana
    Anne Carson
    April Penn
    Ariel Baker-Gibbs
    Audre Lorde
    Ben Berman
    Bucky Sinister
    C A Conrad
    Cassandra De Alba
    Catherine Weiss
    Cedar Sigo
    Chika Sagawa
    Clint Smith
    Danez Smith
    Daphne Gottlieb
    Devon Moore
    Don Mee Choi
    EE Cummings
    Eliel Lucero
    Eliza Griswold
    Emily Taylor
    Epigraph Poems
    Erasure
    Family Poems
    Form Poems
    Found Poems
    Gregory Pardlo
    Hanif Abdurraqib
    Homage Poems
    James Gendron
    Jeanann Verlee
    Jeffrey McDaniel
    Jeff Taylor
    Jennifer Knox
    Jess Rizkallah
    Jim Daniels
    John Ashbery
    John Murillo
    Jon Pineda
    Jon Sands
    Juan Felipe Herrera
    Justin Chin
    Justin Strock
    Kari Tulinius
    Kaveh Akbar
    Kelly Cooper
    Kevin Young
    Kim Addonizio
    Kim Hyesoon
    Langston Hughes
    Lauren Yates
    Leigh Stein
    Love Poems
    Major Jackson
    Marge Piercy
    Mark Doty
    Mohsen Emadi
    Morgan Parker
    Myth
    Natalie Diaz
    Nicole Homer
    Nicole Sealey
    Nicole Terez-Dutton
    Nikki Giovanni
    Numbered Poems
    Ocean Vuong
    Odes
    Patricia Lockwood
    Patricia Smith
    Paul Guest
    Phillip B Williams
    Political Poems
    Porsha Olayiwola
    Praise Poems
    Prompts
    Remix Poems
    Response Poems
    Reviews
    Richard Siken
    Saeed Jones
    Sara Eliza Johnson
    Science Poems
    Sharon Olds
    Sherman Alexie
    Simeon Berry
    Solmaz Sharif
    Tess Taylor
    The Completely Accurate Story Of My Real Friend Bargo Whitley
    Tony Hoagland
    Valerie Loveland
    Vijay Seshadri
    Wanda Coleman
    Work Poems
    Yusef Komunyakaa
    Zanne Langlois

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Tips From The Bar
  • Honest Conversation Is Overrated
  • Popcorn Culture
  • Comically Obsessed
  • Justify Your Bookshelves