Freewrite Friday

Yeah, don't even pay any of this any mind...it was a freestyle.
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These are the lies I told you
These lies did you believe them? I wanted to believe them myself, but there's no use for me to keep spreading these lies between us like chuncky peanut butter, chuncky chunky boy why can't i spell
spreading these lies between us like chunky peanut butter
chunky because these lies are thick
not creamy
i almost can't speak with these thick nutty lies in my mouth
peanut butter orn orange mint and honey do list
can you make me some coffee
more lies
goodbyes
helloes
on noes
dj heroes!
i spread these lies on a slice of your love
and put it in the toaster so that you can at least
feel the warmth
and enjoy these lies as you swallow them
but please chew carefully
because these lies are chunky
sugar honey ice teach
sugar honey ice tea
i guess i never was
i guess it never was
the way i thought it was
but it was only just because
you never came to love
i guess you weren't sure ...uh
i guess that's how the story goes
you didn't dig my flow
you didn't dig my flow
but youre
but your'
but you're still welcome
to these lies that i will feed you
on whole wheat bread
with grape jelly
so like the orange mint and honey
the jelly makes the lie sweet
and easier to swallow
and what is that fricken fracken maxwell lyric
that i can't think of that has something
oh yeah
honeydewsugarchocolatedumpling
yeah, so random
but so are te
but so are these lies
chew carefully
chew slowly
count to 21 before you swallow
i'm sorry that i had to feel
i'm sorry that i had to feed you this peanut butter and jelly sandwich
but i cheese sandwich you anyway
my love
and my throat hurts
and i keep coughing
maybe that's the truth trying to surface
i thought i swallowed enough peanut butter
to keep the truth
in my stomach
the acid was suppose to eat away at the truth
but the truth is stronger than i imagined
isn't that the way it always is

Oh noes! It's DJ Hero!

Triolet Thursday - Triolet #12

Triolet #12 (Silent Treatment)

Silence can be louder than a scream
when anger shuts down the voice to talk.
Frustration and sadness can crush self-esteem
silence can be louder than a scream.
The quiet grows louder and trickles downstream
I hope your heart heals and does not walk.
Silence can be louder than a scream
when anger shuts down the voice to talk.


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What is a triolet? Check the [corny] video I made on the original post if you need some explanation.

"I Wish I Wrote That!" Wednesday - Push

As an aspiring writer (and therefore, a voracious reader), I often find myself reading other authors and saying to myself "I wish I wrote that!" I'm sooooo impressed by an author's ability to construct words into meaningful and fresh sentences, that I'd like to highlight them here on my blog each Wednesday. **************************************************************************
Push
Alfred A. Knopf
by Sapphire
Page 58

Oh, so that's it. She want me to cook. Mad 'cause I ain' cook 'fore I left. S**t, get tired of cooking for her. It hard for Mama to stand up long. I look at her. She ain' circus size yet but she getting there.

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The novel Push is a...er, I want to say tragic, but I'm not sure if that explains it all. The things that Precious experiences are awful. Despite her tumultous upbringing, she still has a sense of humor. Maybe saying her mother wasn't quite big enough to be considered "circus size" wasn't meant to be intentionally funny, but I thought it was hilarious...and I'm pretty sure that Sapphire didn't just accidentally add that part in.

I wish I wrote that!

Writing Confession

I have a confession to make. A writing confession. My writing has been suffering since I went back to teaching full-time. You might have guessed that already, but that isn't my real confession. I am stalling because I don't want to admit that I have broken one of my writing goals (and I only have two). I know, I know, I know. I'm ashamed of myself, but I want to be straight with you.

Okay, so my two writing goals for myself are:
1. Write daily for (at least) 30 minutes.
2. Fill up a composition book before buying a new one.

I broke the second goal, sadly. I really tried hard not to buy it, but it was so cute! I mean, it had argyle print on the cover and I wear argyle print vests all the time. It my second time seeing this particular composition book and it was staring me down as I walked by it, whispering lies about how she would be out of stock the next time I came to the store. You're almost finished with that other composition book anyway, it seemed to be saying.

You understand, don't you? I had to have it!

Well...you will be happy to know, that even though I did fall off of my writing wagon, this post pushes me over the edge of completing my original composition book. I'm going to treat myself to Red Velvet Cheesecake.

Now I need to set another goal for myself to (attempt to) reach. November is National Novel Writing Month, so I could commit to participating or I could join a writer's community. Still deciding...what do you suggest?

Music Monday - Regret

This song makes me curl up my lip...real stank like.

I dig it!

Applying Kinky Curly Custard and Knot Today

I bought some Kinky Curly products the last time I went to visit the beauty salon.

Today was my first time applying it, so I documented it.

I finger coiled my hair after it was in because I wasn't sure of what to do, but next time I'm going to let it air dry or sit under the dryer and see what happens.

Triolet Thursday - Triolet #11 (Writing Fairies)

Writing Fairies

Writing fairies, send me a writer's group.
Honestly, I'd rather have a mentor
apparently I am out of the loop.
Writing fairies, send me a writer's group
words grow stronger from working with a troop
pushing my poetry to the center.
Writing fairies, send me a writer's group
honestly, I'd rather have a mentor.

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What is a triolet? Check the [corny] video I made on the original post if you need some explanation.

"I Wish I Wrote That!" Wednesday - Sapphire's Grave

Music Monday - Do I and Dream (live)

I went to see Alice Smith perform live during the summer and became a bigger fan of hers.  She announced then, that she was working on her second CD and I can't wait for it...but until then, I keep her first CD in regular rotation.

If you haven't heard of her before, she's someone you should look out for.  I couldn't just pick one song of hers to share, so enjoy both videos. *smile*

Freewrite Friday

Alright, so I will officially make Fridays "Freewrite Friday" so that I can push myself to write more.

My goal is to be able to write non-stop without editing for 10 minutes.

I got my freewrite topic from Yesterday's Poem.

I don't have a timer, so what I'll do instead is listen to Whenever, Wherever, Whatever and Lonely's the Only Company by Maxwell.  Together they equal to just a few seconds over 10 minutes.  Perfect!

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An enclosed space an enclosed space when have I ever been in an enclosed space?  Does the elevator count it's enclosed, right? An elevator is an enlclosed space but I don't necessarily feel trapped in an elevator, but the prompt didn't say it had to be an enclosed space that I felt trapped in though, now, did Iit...yeah so an elevator is an enclosed space and I don't have much to say about elevators. Elevators make me think of the Matrix or at least that's what popped into my mind right now, oh maybe not the Matrix, maybe it's actually Speed I'm thinking of...both of them had Keanue Reeves in them so I might just be mixing my movies around. But back to this enclosed space thing...it perplexes me, I've never thogh thought to write about an enclosed space before.  I think I prefer being in wide open places though. Like when everyone came down to D.C. for Obama's inaugeration and alllll of those people were there in that one area, the Mall, I wanted to be the farthest away from that area because it was too many people for my liking.  I would feel trapped, like I was an enclosed space even though it was outdoors, it would still have the same feeling where I would feel trapped...like an enclosed space. Maybe if I just keep writing enclosed space something brilliant will come to me, but really what I'm thinking about is are the voices I hear outside of my door, because I am at work during one of my planning e periods working and I can hear my coworkder coworkers outside chit chatting about um what I'm not exactly sure but I can hear them l clearly and it is tho throwing off my cons conscentration about the enclosed space.  I think the space that is enclosed that I visit most often is my mind.  I stay in my mind alot.  It's warm and cozy in there most times and the company is good.  and I dont have to say anything and i can still be understood and so i can relax a s long as nou nothing outside of my enclosed space of my brain s is nagging at me. it it's cool being in the enclosed space of my brain because there is o no pressure in there to be anyti anything in particular. you can just be in there and i like that.  but i have always been a kind of solitary person so mys maybe that is not the best enclosed space for you, but for me, it's calm...calm like this music i'm listening to, and even though maxwel l is singing about being lonely, i don't feel lonely when i'm alone...well that's not all the way true...i enjoy being alone, but i don't want to be
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Time's up!  I didn't do any editing, so if you can't follow it...sorry.

Rejection Letter

Do you remember that hint fiction contest I mentioned on my blog?

Well...I got a response back...
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Dear Evelyn,

Thank you for your submission, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to use
your work for the anthology. With over 2,400 stories submitted and
less than 3% being accepted for final inclusion, it took a long time
to narrow down the selections and I appreciate your patience. The best
of luck to you with all your writing.


Sincerely,

Robert Swartwood

http://www.robertswartwood.com/

Triolet Thursday - Triolet #10

Writing on the Wall

i know, i know, i know, i know,
please don't tell me what's on your mind
the plant withers, it will not grow
i know, i know, i know, i know,
the hole's too big, we cannot sew
peace, love, and joy i hope you find
i know, i know, i know, i know,
please don't tell me what's on your mind

"I Wish I Wrote That!" Wednesday

As an aspiring writer (and therefore, a voracious reader), I often find myself reading other authors and saying to myself "I wish I wrote that!" I'm sooooo impressed by an author's ability to construct words into meaningful and fresh sentences, that I'd like to highlight them here on my blog each Wednesday. ***************************************************************************
I'm Not Martin (from the Nightmare Hour)
Parachute Press (imprint of HarperCollins)
by R.L. Stine
Page 69

The first thing I noticed about the hospital was the sick, green walls. Such a drab, dull color. Almost gray. The color of the sky on a raw, stormy day.

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I don't even know what a raw stormy sky looks like, but Stine makes me want to know. That sentence makes me think I know, because I can imagine something raw. Not raw food, but imagine a sore on your elbow rubbed raw because you keep resting your elbows on the desk. And the repeated resting on your elbows causes the scab to scrape off and the skin underneath is pink, instead of brown, like the rest of your skin. I'm sure that isn't the same image that Stine had in mind when he wrote that sentence, but the sentence took me places I didn't imagine I could go and that's hot!

I wish I wrote that!

Randomness and Observations

I hit the 100 post mark a few days ago. This is amazing for me because I notoriously start blogs only for them to later fizzle out into nonexistence.

I think what has helped is having specific themes for a particular day like: Music Mondays, "I Wish I Wrote That!" Wednesday, and Triolet Thursdays. So the way I figure it, if I come up with a theme for Tuesday and Friday, it will increase my writing productivity.

You have probably noticed an alliteration thing going on with my themes...keeping that in mind I need some suggestions of what to do for those days. For Friday it might be the easiest if I did a 10 minute freewrite on any topic. If I ever get stuck for topics, I can visit Yesterday's Poem for ideas. I did a freewrite on there last week and ended up writing about Dawn. It must have sparked something in my memory, because I ended up writing a letter to her. So....Freewriting Friday? or Friday Freewrite?

And then that leaves Tuesday...

I complained the other day about how I'm unable to write for myself anymore...how most of my writing is for class instruction. Instead of wasting the models I use to teach different concepts, I could share them on here. Uhherrrmmm, what could I call that? Teachin'ya Tuesdays? Writing Teacher Tuesdays? Boring You To Tears with my Teaching Tuesdays?

I'll let that marinate for awhile longer.

Music Monday - Breaking Dishes (Rihanna)

I'm really surprised no one linked this song to the incident with her and Chris Brown...lots of aggression in this song.

Looking at the Sky

Twinkle, twinkle little star
looking at you, from afar
watching doesn't bring you close
thinking of you...I start to dose

Dear Dawn,

I know it's been awhile since we've spent some time together. I have been thinking about you. I was hoping you would reach out to me, but I have the feeling if I keep waiting on you, I'll be waiting for winter. Didn't Sade say that on a song? I know I didn't come up with something eloquent like that on my own.

So, what have you been up to? How are you feeling about your new school? Are you and Zora getting along any better or you still kind of on the outs with each other? Have you made any progress of writing a "good" poem? I'm not any closer to an answer on the good poem thing either. Everybody seems to have a different definition of what makes a poem good, so maybe you will have to figure out for yourself what qualifies as good in your own heart. If you let everyone else define "good" for you, you'll have to keep changing your poems to fit each person...and that's missing the point of why you write poetry in the first place, right?

You are in seventh grade. You were in sixth grade before, but I think seventh grade might be better for you. I have four students in my English class that I wonder if you would be friends with them or maybe you are exactly like one of them? One of them has the perfect name for a character, especially if she has artistic talent in painting. Maybe this friend of yours is going to help you figure out how to find the good in your poetry. Maybe this friend is going to be just the support you need to navigate your new school and the poetry talent you have inside.  Maybe this friend will have a father who closes/opens the hole you have in your heart for your absentee one...

I hope to hear from soon.

Your writer,

Evelyn N. Alfred

An award for my blog...?

B: Beautiful
I: Informative
N: Neighborly
G: Gorgeous
O: Outstanding

Wow! Zetta Elliott, author of Bird, gave me an award for my blog. This is my first award ever.

Sweet!!!

I don't know what to say.

Thank you!

Triolet Thursday - Triolet #9 (To the real poet)

Triolet #9 (To the real poet)

Showered by your symbols like a calm rain,
enveloped in letters...sweet sound lingers.
The attention lives content in my brain,
showered by your symbols like a calm rain.
Melodies tickle, but I can't complain.
Touching. Tracing the words with my fingers
showered by your symbols like a calm rain,
enveloped in letters...sweet sound lingers.

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What is a triolet? Check the [corny] video I made on the original post if you need some explanation.

"I Wish I Wrote That!" Wednesday

As an aspiring writer (and therefore, a voracious reader), I often find myself reading other authors and saying to myself "I wish I wrote that!" I'm sooooo impressed by an author's ability to construct words into meaningful and fresh sentences, that I'd like to highlight them here on my blog each Wednesday. *******************************************************************************
Soul Kiss (taken from Black Like Us)
by Shay Youngblood
Cleis Press
Page 394

Armed with a sandwich, a piece of fruit, and a word written on a small square of pink paper folded twice, I was ready for anything. The word was written in blue ink in my mother's fancy script...pretty...sweet...blue...music...dream... Sometimes she gave me words in Spanish...bonita...dulce...suenos...agua...azul... The word I kept in my mouth, repeated like a prayer when I missed her. Mama told me that she would be thinking of the same word all day. That thought made our time apart bearable. Before she left me at the door of the school she would whisper the word into my ear. I'd close my eyes and she would kiss me quickly on my neck, then let go of my hand. She always watched me through the window as I walked to my seat near the back of the room. We would mouth our word to each other once more before she disappeared.
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Clearly, I have a love affair with ellipses, so that initially drew me into this paragraph. The connection I had to this experience was another reason. My own mother would write me little affirmations on my lunch bag. The sentiment expressed here though is strong, I can almost taste the closeness of their bond. Wouldn't every mother and child dream of this type of affection for each other? The writer in me swoons over the character's love of words, carefully enclosed in pink and blue. Can you imagine repeating a word over in your mind and that word having the ability to make your day tolerable? Nobody can tell me that words don't have power.

I wish I wrote that!

Music Monday - Prototype

*sigh*
Somebody made me remember how much I enjoy this song:

Meeting Jacqueline Woodson

The National Book Festival was about two weeks ago, but I have yet to blog about it.

*trifling*

I had a pre-game plan before heading up to the festival. There were six authors I planned to visit at the festival: Sharon Creech, Junot Diaz, Nikki Grimes, Walter Mosley, Patricia Smith, and Jacqueline Woodson. If I'm being totally honest though, my top priority was to hear Jacqueline Woodson and get some more books of hers signed. I met her once before at the Baltimore Book Festival (back in the day). This was before I was familiar with the bulk of her work and when I say bulk, I am not exaggerating. She's written 29 books. Twenty-nine. I'm not sure when she first started writing (this is why I'm fan #9 and not #1), but let's say she started publishing in her early 20s, that would mean that she has published a book each year and some. Who does that? Ms. Woodson does.

Had I known more about her then, I would have been more intimidated by our first meeting. She was very personable and took the time to sign two books and chit chatted a bit (about what, I can't even remember, fricken fracken!) because there wasn't a huge line behind me waiting for a signature. The Notebooks of Melanin Sun was the first book of hers that I read, I think...and that might have been the only book I knew of during that first meeting.

When I actually arrived at the NBF, I was several hours late, so that killed all possibilities of getting Creech and Diaz to sign books. However I was able to listen to Nikki Grimes for awhile before heading over to see Walter Mosley. At the end of Mosley's discussion, I mustered up the courage to ask him a question in a tent-full of fans. Before it was my turn though, a older man asked a two part question that I thought was rude. The first part of his question was about one of Mosley's books, so that was cool...that second one though, was about how was he able to eat apples? I thought to myself, what does he mean by that? and I assumed it was in reference to some character in a book Mosley had written...but he had no idea why the guy had asked it either, so he asked for clarity. Turns out the guy was making referring to Mosley's gap in his front teeth. Rude. You know the saying "there are no dumb questions"? They obviously hadn't met this guy. The question I asked was about a potential sequel to 47, which he said he was in the process of working on.

*Yippie*

I made the mistake of not having some Jacqueline Woodson books on hand prior to coming to the event and had to wait 30 minutes (or more) in line at the tent that sold all the author's books. Dumb move. I missed a poetry reading of some local poets. Dang it.

I had three minutes to make my way to Woodson's tent after purchasing Feathers and Peace, Locomotion. A woman was in the process of introducing Woodson when I arrived. Jacqueline read excerpts from several of her books and answered questions (look at the vlog for more details of a question she answered)...but the most memorable moment came later during her book signing.

I was a bit soggy from the rain by the time of her signing, but I was not deterred in the least. I was on a mission. My new mission is to get all of her books signed. I might as well admit, I was nervous waiting in line for my turn and I mulled over a few intelligent questions I might ask her, but this is how it really went:

Jacqueline: Hi
Me: ...Hello...um, will you sign more than one for me?
Jacqueline: Sure. *Looking at the post-it note on the book* Are you Evelyn?
Me: *thinking* ...Yes...I am.
Jacqueline: Evelyn, number #9? What does that mean?
Me: It's an inside joke between me and a friend of mine. She says that she is your number one fan, so I told her I was at least number nine...
Jacqueline: *smiles* [pause] Haven't we met before?
Me: *DEAD ON THE FLOOR*

Okay, so I didn't really die, but metaphorically speaking I was done. I couldn't believe she had remembered me from the Baltimore Book Festival!!!! I told her where I though she might remember me from and how impressed I was with her memory. My brain pretty much shut off after that and the only question I was able to get in was about what hair products she used...and since I didn't write it down, I have of course forgotten...I think it starts with a J and she described it being in a large jar or something...fricken fracken.

Sorry Jacqueline, next time I promise to have a better question ready. Thanks for signing my books and inspiring me to write.

Full Time Teaching = Less Time To Write

Teaching full time is really swallowing my regular writing schedule. It's not that I'm not writing completely, but most of what I write isn't for me. Just last week I started writing a personal narrative about meeting Jacqueline Woodson at the National Book Festival. I wrote that only as an example for my students because we are working on writing personal narratives in class.

I'm still trying to figure out how to find work/life balance at my new teaching position and until I get used to planning for four preps, my personal writing time is going to be limited.

It probably would also help if I could stay off of Twitter.

Triolet Thursday - #8 (Seventh Grade Shaving Lament)

What is a triolet? Check the [corny] video I made on the original post if you need some explanation.


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Triolet #8 (Seventh Grade Shaving Lament)

I heard the seventh grade girls complaining,
"Having to shave my legs takes so much time!"
During study hall, they were explaining
I heard the seventh grade girls complaining.
Snickers and giggles, I was restraining
they said, being hairless would be sublime
I heard the seventh grade girls complaining
"having to shave my legs takes so much time!"