Posts (page 2)

Me in my delicious denial
of what happens next
morning, and you in search
of magicandbutterflies and
something so pure, it
puts this song on repeat
play forever and makes you
fall in love, which I have never
seen. What I mean is two rockets,
our meteors arcing past each
other at a million milesanhour.
You made like religion, while I
piled every conceivable backpack
outside our front door, with
one word attached: Please.
It works in every language.
She who eats snow
flakes, please. Teach me
the ancient art of REM
again. Because: Do you?
and, What do you think
a starfish looks like
when it has a heartattack?

Starting to feel the restless itch again, I endulged myself a few hours today daydreaming and fooling around with some approximate long-distance bicycle tour routes.

1. Walla Walla, Washington, to Anchorage, Alaska, via Seattle, Washington, and Fairbanks, Alaska: approx. 2,982 miles (6 weeks) OR leaving from Seattle: 2,627 miles (5 weeks) - Google map
2. Columbus, Ohio, to Montreal, Quebec, via West Virginia, New England, and the Maritime Provinces: approx. 4,284 miles (8 weeks) - Google map
3. Beijing, China, to Moscow, Russia, via Trans-Siberian and Mongolian Express Railway routes: approx. 4,736 miles (9 weeks) - a rail passenger's Google map; my route would follow closely

Ambitious, yes, but I know from experience I can realistically cover 500+ days a week, including the occasional day off, in any terrain and weather. The biggest concern would be food & water supplies and potential mechanical breakdowns over long, sparsely-populated stretches in routes #1 & 3. It would be the most challenging and take the entire summer break, but I like the China-Mongolia-Russia expedition best. The challenge is half the point, after all. Meet me in Moscow, anyone?

With shirt on me backwards and
rub-on’s deactivated, greasy fingers on
music machine and searching for signal
annoyinwere thunderclouds. Just slapping

dumpster puddles nearby, someone
washing God’s giant erasers on the
stoops outside. The just barely
aware sprawled across woody hilltops

Where we still expect questions flying fast
& where We were wrong is an acceptable form
of address. What part of England are you from?
and Did you ever have sex while smiling?

I was groomed for this. I am a goat,
the boy hugging knees. If you want
to be an overachiever, beware the pigs,
because sweet man flesh is consistency
between everything. Jick.

Virginia Beach, June 2008

i.

every poem is a game of letters, this
the blank wooden square that fits
between impossibles, a sentiment
without value, but ultimately flexible.

we who speak the language
are squirrels, all swiftness and
silence, heads up and ready to leap
from hammock to fencepost and

beyond, beyond symbols
or sound, the putting together
of lips and pulling them apart.
an ambulance approaches, lights

flashing. man gets out and waves it
back into my ally. but at night,
if you walk alone, you will see.
in the sand, this is what most surfaces

look like, under a microscope:
random and infinitely bumpy, their
peaks and depressions bent into
shapes without meaning. some

time later, the paramedics return
with ice cream cones in hand.

ii.

this afternoon, two motorcycles
block the sidewalk with handlebars
built like breaking bones. a mechanic
rumbles the throttle, listening

with his expert ear while the UPS
man stands at the door, waiting. woman
steps off foot bridge and smiles
for no reason. in the murky water

below, empty beer cans and burger wraps
wait for eternity. homeless man huddles
in the public library. field hockey players,
Olympic hopefuls. pretty girl in the

crowd, just one of many. pick me!
pick me for your stupid unicycle
tricks, your prototypical families
and unlikely couples trying to find

pizza while everything closes
or walking at the water’s edge.

iii.

a famous physicist says probably
there is no such thing as time,
but just like Aristotle, he cannot
prove the Earth is round. turn

the page, and there is no free will.
past midnight, boy hauls empty
wheelchair up stairs. horse shits
on sidewalk, cop on top, as if

everything we ever did, just
happened. like the time
you sat across from me,
and i could only draw blanks.

This is from our local newspaper, the Bolivar Commercial. I am trying to get more informed about this case, but my search of the Lexis/Nexis database came up with nothing.

Justice Department visits Cleveland school campuses

Landry Barbieri

Staff Writer

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Representatives with the U.S. Justice Department are in Cleveland this week evaluating the Cleveland School District’s compliance with the 1969 consent decree.

“They were here on Monday, and will be here Tuesday and Wednesday,” said Jamie Jacks, attorney for the district.

In February, the district was given 40 days to respond to the Justice Department in regards to its fulfillment of the decree mandating racial equality in area schools.

“According to the letter that was sent to the district, the Justice Department has received some complaints from the community,” Dr. Harvey Jackson, chairman of school board, said previously.

However, in early April, the district was granted an extension on the information until May 1.

At that time data, including the numbers of computers and labs in district schools, as well as the condition of all athletic facilities and classrooms, was supplied to the Justice Department.

“They will now be working on an on-site visit,” said Jacks.

Justice Department officials met with members of the Cleveland community Sunday night at the Lincoln Garden Church of Christ.

“We had about 50 people show up for the discussion, which was really good for Mother’s Day,” said Margaret Block, who along with the Mississippi Youth Justice Center, organized the event.

Block said that several concerns were addressed at the meeting including what some feel is “unequal facilities between the east and west sides (of Cleveland.)”

“People shared their concerns with the unequal athletic departments at our high schools and junior highs,” said Block.

“There are deplorable conditions at the athletic facilities at East Side and D.M. Smith. The bathroom in the high school facility has no hot water as of now.

“Also, there was some concern that instructors with higher degrees, such as master’s degrees, were being placed on the west side of town.”

Block said while a large portion of the meeting focused on the district’s secondary education, there were also concerns raised about area elementary schools.

“They were informed about the condition at Nailor Elementary and how it has continued to stay open with asbestos and mold.”

She said that community members were also vocal about the demographics of Hayes Cooper Center, the district’s charter Magnet Program school.

“The community was told that there would be a 50/50 racial split at Hayes Cooper,” said Block. “However, it appears to be more like 69/31 (with a Caucasian majority).”

Block said she felt the meeting was productive.

“I think that it was positive,” said Block. “It allowed the community to voice their concerns with this district.”

During the site visit taking place through Wednesday, Justice Department representatives are expected to visit all campuses and speak with district officials.

Jackson previously noted that the board would work to meet any requirements dictated by the Justice Department.

Here is a favorite photo from graduation day, last weekend. On the coaxing of Mom and me, we stopped to see the antebellum archtecture in Holly Springs. That's my nephew in the foreground. His great-grandmother is said to have babysat Elvis in Tupelo. How many of you, I ask, can claim just three degress of separation from the King?

Youth Movement

Topics of conversation at school today:

• Mr. A "lookin' clean" last night at graduation "wid dat suit on"
• Ms. H not giving Mr. A a ride home from graduation
• which teacher made Mr. G mad by giving their exams early 
• whether Mr. A will let us go to the gym today if we get our work done
• why Mr. A did not ride his bike to school today
• the fact that Mr. A was lazy
• ... too lazy to ride his bike today
• ... because he slept in
• ... because he woke up at four o'clock this morning, only to go back to sleep at six
• whether Mr. A slept with his girlfriend last night
• who copied whose answers
• who got their "little paragraphs done" for detention
• yes, Mr. A was in Peace Corps, and no, that did not involve flying airplanes
• Mr. A should write the "I-C-A" at the end of "Jess"
• referring to all students by the last three letters of their names
• Mr. A, "You play too much!"
• Mr. A will take that "big fat pen" to match his "big fat wallet"
• T. has a two-year-old son by M. (who is in alternative school) - "You didn't know that?"
• Mr. A thinks T. should reconsider his plans to father two more kids before he finishes school
• Mr. A's behind-the-back dribble at lunch today, the fact that he "pushed" K. to get the ball, etc.
• students throwing stuff at Mr. A during lunch today
• whether we really "all use math every day" as my casual Friday t-shirt proclaims
• "Warm-up #1: the answer is 4" - half the class got it right!
• Mr. A is a high school drop-out
• whether Mr. A is attending the parade this afternoon
• whether Mr. A is attending the clubs tonight
• W. apologizes for slamming the door in my face earlier
• Mr. A's letter to the superintendent requesting $$$ to start up the soccer program

Happy as I am not to teach Transition to Algebra next year, I am starting to realize how much I will, strangely, miss them. 

All of these photos were taken today, on my ride to Rosedale, Skene, and other locales around Bolivar County, Miss. Today's roadkill count:

• 2 armadillos
• 2 possums
• 5 baby possums
• 1 raccoon
• 1 turtle
• 1 or 2 dozen assorted mice, snakes, etc.

I [heart] Mississippi.

And now for a random opinion...

The best sports are exciting and beautiful because they involve constant action and movement. These games involve tremendous skill and athletic prowess, but never for their own sake. The essence of the game is movement, and the best players are like master artists painting their impromptu masterworks on a canvas of space and time. Passing lanes and shooting angles open and close in the blink of an eye. What was a goal one moment is good defense a fraction of a second later. My list of the four best, most exciting, most beautiful sports in the world:

1. soccer
2. ice hockey
3. basketball
4. Australian football

The most boring and overrated sports are dumb because they involve standing around most of the time. It is difficult to fathom why people get so enthusiastic about these sports. They are as exciting as watching grass grow. Come to think of it, they pretty much are watching grass grow.

1. cricket
2. golf
3. baseball
4. rugby union

Although rugby certainly involves physical exertion, unlike the others on this list, the rules of rugby union make for a slow and dull game with a lot of fishing the ball out from under piles of bodies, massive phalanxes butting heads for little reward, and punting the ball for position. It is a like a bunch of offensive lineman from American football trying to push each other around without ever getting a chance to catch their breath. Australian football is arguably just as rough-and-tumble but involves immensely more action.

Two figures collide at speed and strange angles, the arms and legs in random directions and pieces falling off. Two thousand, she says, and writes it on a scrap of paper salvaged from the bottoms of pockets. The woman shouting sex and something incomprehensible at the train station, where we wait for half an hour for something to happen and nothing does, walking on a broken heel. You never saw a hand so dead, but we found graffitti there and plenty of it, Felix with a gun, and music with accordions, swapping stories of bicycling out of money. And this is how I got away: That night, she sleeps, a pile of angles, elbows and knees, and a face buried somewhere beneath. One of us pretends to be asleep while the other one leaves, because we already said goodbyes.