Category Archives: poems

People get tagged with these labels…

The story behind the poem:
In 1991 I was hired by the local housing authority (CMHA) as their public information officer. My job was to be a white face to face off with a white media, a fact made clear in my interview. It was my first opportunity to work in place where I was

Back to School Poem: My Official List, a writer’s guide

New faces, new names, new voices, new dreams. It’s getting-to-know-you time again, the beginning of a new school year.
Here is a little quick write pattern for creating a cheeky introduction. Fun to write, fun to share. I’m thinking upper elementary, but you be the judge. Here is my model, My Official List. Sorry that it’s

Why I Would Never Tell a Student What a Poem Means

 

Why I Would Never Tell a Student What a Poem Means. (reprinted from the Washington Post, April 13, 2017)
 
 
Seems fitting that April is poetry month, a season brimming with blossoming possibilities and longer days. Like jolly jonquils, in April poets are released from our winter hibernation, we shed our black attire

Poem/Letter to Someone 50 Years From Now

Following the lead of poet Matthew Olzmann, I decided to try my hand at a poem/letter to someone fifty years from now.  As I did some calculations, that turns out to be exactly 100 years from the year I graduated from high school. Since it is unlikely I will live to see 2067, I left