January 14: First Day of Class, "Rye" Dip Monday, Poem Question

I'm sitting in my office at the university, waiting to head off to teach my first class of the semester.  It has been a very nice Christmas break, but it is time to get back into the trenches.  I feel rested, relaxed, and ready.  Having these last two weeks of vacation has really helped my frame of mind.  While I'm not looking forward to getting up at 4 a.m. tomorrow to work at the medical office, I really have a sense of calm today.  Usually, going back to school and work in January is like getting my appendix removed and a root canal on the same day.  Not this time.

Well, the trip to Green Bay was nice.  Lunch at the Olive Garden was delicious.  Shrek the Musical was delightful.  The trip back after the show was a little stressful because of snow and wind.  We arrived home around 11 p.m., just in time for me to see Daniel Day Lewis win the Golden Globe for Best Actor for Lincoln.

It is Monday, and, therefore, it is time for a Rye dip.  There's not a whole lot on my mind today.  As I said above, I'm pretty relaxed.  However, I always have some fear or worry lurking in the back of my psyche.  Everybody does.  So, my question for the great book of Salinger is:

Will I publish poems this semester in some good literary journals?

And the answer from Holden and company is:

...It's a funny thing about girls.  Every time you mention some guy that's strictly a bastard--very mean, or very conceited and all--and when you mention it to the girl, she'll tell you he has an inferiority complex.  Maybe he has, but that still doesn't keep him from being a bastard in my opinion...

That's Holden talking about the girl he loves, Jane.  Jane went out with a guy Holden considers a phony (surprise, surprise), and Jane tells him the guy has an inferiority complex.  Holden doesn't buy that explanation, of course. 


So how does that passage apply to my question?  Well, I can say that I'm usually not very confident about my poems.  I look at the poetry currently being published and think, "This is crap.  I can write better than this in my sleep."  But I usually don't follow through in sending any of my work out.  And that's my answer.  I need to get over my inferiority complex and send my poems out to get published.  I will see myself in print this year.

If phony bastards can do it, so can Saint Marty.

Good day for a Rye dip

August 29: Done Day, Post #300, Name that Poem

I just got back from teaching my first class of the semester--Good Books.  I'm not kidding when I say it was possibly one of the best first days I've ever had.  The students were relaxed.  They asked questions when I asked, "Are there any questions?"  And the questions were relevant.  When we did the class introductions, the students were funny and engaged.  They laughed at all my jokes, which is very encouraging.  If I'm going to gauge the rest of the semester by how today went, I would say it's going to be a wonderful autumn.  A great relief.

This post marks a milestone.  It is number 300 for my blog.  For the person who has been with me since the beginning (I'm talking to you, Wonder Twin), I want to thank you for hanging in there.  It has been a bumpy ride at times.  I (and the blog) have evolved over the last couple of years, for the better, I think.  I've been trying to decide how to commemorate this event.  Fireworks are too expensive.  A party for my loyal follower may be a little depressing.  (It would just be two people, sitting in a room, eating and drinking.)  A feature-length film based on my blog may be a hard sell in Hollywood.  That leaves me with one option...

Another contest.

Considering how popular my first contest was (I got a total of one entry for my muffin-naming contest), this contest may end up being the Hindenburg of contests.  I may end up standing back, crying, "Oh, the humanity!"  Nevertheless, I will try once more try to elicit some interest in my contest I'm calling, "Name that Poem."

The rules are pretty simple:

1. In the comment section to this post, give me a subject to write a poem about.  It can be any old subject you want--macaroni and cheese, uncontrollable diarrhea, the Libyan revolution.
2. You may enter the contest as many times as you want.
3. In post 310, I will announce the winner of "Name that Poem," and I will write a poem about the subject the winner has suggested.  I will send the winner of the contest (if it doesn't cost too much money) an autographed copy of the poem and a cool holy card of a saint.

That's it people.  Get your poetry caps on.  Send me your suggestions.  What do you want me to write a poem about?  Make it easy.  Make it hard.  Make it whatever you want it to be.  Hurt me.

Saint Marty can take it.