Back to School! and a contest

School bus as seen from the twelfth floor of an office in Manhattan:

Back to school again:
pounding the snooze button, then
inhale my breakfast.

Race to catch the bus!
Miss! Beg Mom to drive me, then
walk of shame to class.

I no longer dream
of school bus anxiety,
but pink slip from boss.

*

Yeah, poets! It's back to school time! How many of you have woken up in a cold sweat a week before the first day of school, worried about missing the bus? Used to happen to me every year, and I don't know why - it's not like it was a big deal to show up late.

Grasshoppers, get your writing chops warmed up and try entering one of your haiku into a contest! One of our Friday Featured Poets, Alan Summers was kind enough to post it in one of the comments. Here's a link to it here. There is an entry fee, but you'll get worldwide exposure and be judged by the awesomely talented poet Alan Summers, renga poet-in-residence for City of Hull, in the UK.

The deadline in November 21st, 2010. Check it out!

*

Middlepoet - the Poet Laureate of...Jersey City?!

Check out Middlepoet - a poet/rapper who puts his work to song AND video! Talk about taking poetry up a notch! There are plenty of poets like him on YouTube, but none as flawlessly entertaining and hip.



He inspires me to make more Provocative Haiku videos! What do you think? Take a quick survey and let me know what you like about this blog by clicking HERE.

*

Tired of sweating,
constant, more body odor,
sticky, grimy itch!

No more appetite
except for cold beer, ice tea,
Chasing ice cream man.

Tired of summer,
humidity, more acne,
more yeast infections.

*

"Featured Poet"

This is too funny not to share:
Here's the direct link:
http://whydoilivehere.cheezburger.com/2010/06/23/crazy-neighbor-photos-had-to-pick-them/

Hating summer heat

I hate summer heat,
humidity, instant sweat,
my fat thighs chafing!

This is what I feel like:
AXE antiperspirant video

Garbage Heap

Rat race to amass
coveted objects become trash.
It ends in a pile.



This lovely trash mountain was spotted while I was on the LIRR. It really made me think of overconsumption in the world.

Speaking of consumption, if you'd like to make a statement with this photo, you can buy the shirt here at my new Spreadshirt store. This is an experiment - they have a lot of organic cotton and even recycled shirts. Check it out!

Or leave your own haiku about the American addiction to shopping, overabundance, and waste in the comments below.

Rainy days suck!

Rainy Mondays suck!
Wind has broken umbrella,
Wet shoes and wet pants,

Perfect hair ruined -
Why did I bother?! but then -
Droplet smiled at me:


Photo by Whitney Tillson, a Friday Featured Poet!

*

Poem In Your Pocket Day is today!

I'm such an amateur poet - I just found out today is Poem In Your Pocket Day. Alice Quinn is the director of of the New York-based Poetry Society of America, and she's responsible for bringing the Envelope Project to the city. Her idea comes from her fifth-grade teacher who one day gave all of his students a sealed envelope with the first line of a famous poem on the front, and the full poem inside. The students were asked to write their own poem using the same starting line before they could open the envelope.

So the idea for today is to carry in your pocket a poem you wrote based on a famous first line and share it with friends and family. Today, Mayor Mike Bloomberg read his poem which is inspired by "Hope is the Thing with Feathers" by Emily Dickinson. I think it's rather good, so I'm going to share it below:

"Hope" is the thing with feathers
That makes our City soar
It will take us to the future
As it's carried us before.

Hope is the thing with feathers
That travels all our streets
It sings in every language
It sometimes even tweets.

And though we may not see it
It perches everywhere
In new shops and small businesses
In every schoolroom chair.

It could be our famous pigeon
Or fabled red-tailed hawk
Hope is the thing with feathers
That flies throughout New Yawk.

I love how he ends it with "New Yawk!" Our mayor is very fond of NYC, and probably does not take public transportation to work. If he did, he might have written some haiku about the frustrations of subways and navigating the sidewalks of the city (see my book).

So, let's explore that, shall we? Trying to get anywhere in NYC is maddening, especially during rush hour. The city is just full of so many people, bikes, vehicles, and pets. It's bumper to bumper stop-and-go traffic, it's being crammed onto an already full bus, it's trying to get your MetroCard to work at the turnstile as the subway doors are closing. ARG!!!! It's enough to make a pirate drink rum! and lots of it!

I'm going to try my hand with one of my favorite poets, Edgar Allen Poe, and use his poem "The Raven."

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
why so many pedestrians wander aimlessly when, clearly
there are people in a hurry, walking by in a flurry
trying to catch the train, and just barely
making it through the closing door.
Why must they be so selfish, unthinking of others?
They should all "Be gone!", if I had my druthers.
But alas, I must commute to work because my smashed up car is
No more.

And of course, we must have a Provocative Haiku on the subject!

Rush hour train ride home
with gabby, drunken riders.
I could slap each one.

Hey, why don't you give it a try! Here's a great place for famous poems:
www.FamousPoetsAndPoems.com and click here for "The Raven."