Claire’s Day

Claire’s Day is a reading celebration in Toledo that is held once a year in honor of a 10 year old girl who went to summer camp and never came home. She had a cardiac arrest. I had been signed up to present for at least a year in advance. I went thinking it would

Why are you teaching us to write poetry?

Not a smart mouth, not unkind. Just a question from a third grader today at R.C. Waters Elementary in Oak Harbor, OH.
The morning assemblies were actually a comfort — it was good to be with happy children without parentheses of pain about their eyes — like stepping from a darkened theater into the

Thank you

So many notes and calls — meat platters, fruit baskets, plants, flowers and a tree. We can’t thank everyone enough for all your caring thoughts and feeling hearts. We remain off balance, a bright star missing from the mobile of family.
So much support from community — our wide community of teachers, students, friends,

Stephanie Lufkin

STEPHANIE LYN “STEPHIE” LUFKIN, age 7. First Grade Student at Normandy Elementary School, Bay Village. Precious princess and cherished daughter of Katie (nee Traynor) and Douglas; loving sister of Scotty and Sara; adored granddaughter of Sara Holbrook and Michael Salinger, Thomas Traynor and Rosemary Breehl, Joe and Lyn Lufkin of Tampa, FL.; sweet niece of

Breaking the Ice

I haven’t been blogging — obviously, the last blog has a picture of a blizzard and birds who can’t believe their luck are breakfasting on swiped grass seed from the front lawn. I’ve been form Istanbul to Iowa and various stops in between since last writing. I always have more excuses for not writing than

The opposite of Bali

The opposite of Bali is Cleveland in the blizzard of the century. Granted, the century is only 8 years old, but this was it man. The recital that ODOT prepares for all year, the big show, winter’s grand finale. The good thing is she still has it in her to blast the human race into

Mont ‘Kiara International School Kuala Lumpur

I was blown away by Mont’Kiara. Posted all over were copies of my poems and the kids had studied and had fun with the poems in preparation for my visit. I could tell what a good job the teachers did in preparing the students when I found them reciting some of the poems right

One Gong or Two?

“Everybody take out a piece of paper and something to write with.” So begins the writing workshop. Michael and I conducted about 20 workshops at JIS Middle — lots of students, lots of pens on paper. Some of the poems I never heard because the writers were too shy to share. Others flew by

Jakarta International Middle School

A couple of traveling poets might be a little wary about an assembly at 7:30 AM on Monday morning under any circumstances. The kick off assembly at JIS Middle School followed a long weekend, a holiday to celebrate Chinese New Year. And just as Michael and I had vacationed in Bali for the weekend,

Good and Not so Good

“Don’t breathe as you pass by.”

The sun searches for landing pads on the jungle floor, hopping from leaf to leaf. Dawa has picked a small white flower and explained it is used for eye wash, cautioned us not to touch another broad leaf plant because the surface is covered with fine skin