April 5: Teaching Poetry, Psalm 28, Changing Things Up

Spondee, baby!

Today, I started teaching poetry to my Writing and Literature class.  It's my favorite time of the semester, obviously.  I have such a good time trying to excite a group of twenty-somethings about rhyme and rhythm and meter.  I actually used the terms "anapest" and "spondee" with my students this afternoon.  I got to talk about Emily Dickinson and prose poems in the same hour and a half.  I couldn't ask for a better day.

This morning, I decided to change things up with my psalm.  I have been writing longer poems the last few days.  I felt like I was getting in a rut.  So I decided to do the exact opposite of a two-page poem:  haiku.  I started thinking about my haiku last night.  I was just going to work on one, but when I began writing this morning, the form came to me.  I'm basing my haiku on the mysteries of the Catholic rosary.  There are four sets of mysteries (Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, Glorious), and each set has five mysteries.  Hence, today you have "Joyful Mysteries" consisting of five haiku.  Expect Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious over the next three days.

I'm in a great mood right now, looking forward to going home, spending time with my wife and kids.  Its around forty degrees outside.  That may not sound warm to some of my readers, but, in the U.P. of Michigan, that's June, baby.

Saint Marty wishes you a good night.  Keep praying for his friend, John, who lost his wife on Saturday.  Call a friend, hug your kids, kiss your significant other tonight.  Spread blessings through the world.

Psalm 28:  Mysteries of Joy

1.  Annunciation

In early morning

Full moon through snow clouds

Angel appears

2.  Visitation

Hungry, tired

My son cries, jumps in his crib

For his savior

3.  Nativity

Streetlight against black sky
Ice and wind

Guide me home

4.  Presentation

Infant fingers

Soft rain on my palm

Pierce my heart

5.  Finding the Child

Tall daughter

Body of crocus, tulip

Lost to me