Ohmigod, it’s April! What happened to March? Wasn’t it just the end of February, though?

I had a busy week: left me dizzy & weak. Tuesday, Laura McCullough came to school for a lively reading/discussion with our visiting poet-professor Kathy Graber.

Thursday I went for a walk on the boardwalk and listened to Pavement. (Yes, I also trimmed up the sides of my own hair a bit. My own hair: yet another work in progress. Will no projects ever be finished?)

Friday I went up to Brookdale C.C. for a meeting. The same school where Laura teaches; it’s kizmet. Later I rented the new Muppets movie, starring Kermit.

And then Saturday.

And now: the lavender in the burnt-out pot out back attempts a valiant comeback.

"Breeding lavender out of the dead land."

(I remember reading “The Waste Land” with high school sophomores one year; when they all said NO MORE PLEASE, SIR. But we read it all. And once or twice even listened to Thomas read it to us.)

Now I’m working on a poem for Kathy’s class tomorrow. It is not going well. We are meant to write about place, and I am imagining a scene in an office or cubicle between two coworkers.

Maybe I will start to dig out old poems from the hard dirt, even though I see you shaking your head and saying no, don’t do it, man; see what still has some green to it; what wants to take to new soil. Maybe I will post them here this month. Even the really bad ones from when I was a teenager that I still have saved.

Anyway, here’s what I’m working on at the moment. Please note: this is not at all autobiographical, so no need to send sympathy cards to me. Save your sympathy for the poem, which needs it. (Happy Poetry Month!)

“Good Advice” (a work in progress)

When the doctor called
saying it was serious
a coworker
pulled me into her office
shut the door

said This is
what you must do now

Go home

Get a pizza

Get into yr pajamas

Turn on Turner Classics

Eat the entire pizza

Get up tomorrow

Keep getting up