At the Bus Stop

I think it probably started with the sandals.
An urban expression of a longing
for summer.
An act of anti-autumnal subversion.
But then I think he realized that it was in fact
October
and that, on a clear day, we could in fact see
almost to Canada
and that wool socks would be needed
if sandals were to be worn.
But then again, wool socks do give the impression of
wintertime
and so to balance the outfit
and because he never quite liked the way his
khakis hit his ankles just above the velcro strap
of his sandals
he decided that shorts also would be
a good choice today.

A Saturday Swim

I dive
from my second story apartment
into what appears to be a stream
swollen by Saturday.
People buying orange bags of candy and
light weight coats.
Swimming upstream, I enter through
a long row of bright red mechanical doors
who courteously open for me as I approach
I pause to thank them, then pause again
as I'm not sure about the morays
pertaining to manners toward
electronics.

A job as something other than a writer...

Over the past few years I've become more and more convinced that I want to pursue writing as a career. I've learned a lot about doing that, and most evidence seems to point to this fact: If I'm going to be a writer, I'm going to need to have a real job too.

And now I do.

I started last week as a bi-lingual para-educator in a public elementary school, working with children of immigrant families in Pasco, WA. It's been a good job, but of course a new challenge to my writing that I didn't have before: I can't sit around the library and day dream all day anymore.

I still have a good chunk of afternoons though, and of course Saturdays, so that's what I get to do today. I checked out a fabulous little book called "Valentines" by former US poet laureate Ted Kooser. If you ever find your self with an hour to kill in a public library, I highly suggest it, they are short, very sweet little poems that Kooser wrote for his lady-friends over the years.

He also has a book about being a poet, which I also checked out and will be reading today in between cleaning the kitched, listening to NPR and watching college football...

peace.
Ted