Pathetic Circus Kids under ten are free with an adult. A bargain, I thought, my kids can see a real Live circus right here at the armory. The clown was good, but so tired. Had he trained For the stage? Played Hamlet? Richard the Third? Defected from a show Leningrad? I laughed till my cheeks hurt just to make sure He wouldn’t kill himself after the show. The lady with the poodles in tutus Must have been in her late seventies. Great gams though. Then the acrobats. Two b...

My baby is the coolest 6yo on the planet. OK--I know every mommy thinks their baby is the Shizznit (i'm not sure what that means but my 15 yo assures me it's a good thing). I teach school and I can see that my kid has coolularity that other kids only hope to achieve in puberty. Allow me to offer evidence. A. My kid can quote entire chunks of movies after watching them only once. He can do the scene in Shrek 2 when the Fairy Godmother picks up King Harold for a talk. He even has the accent...

My baby is the coolest 6yo on the planet. OK--I know every mommy thinks their baby is the Shizznit (i'm not sure what that means but my 15 yo assures me it's a good thing). I teach school and I can see that my kid has coolularity that other kids only hope to achieve in puberty. Allow me to offer evidence. A. My kid can quote entire chunks of movies after watching them only once. He can do the scene in Shrek 2 when the Fairy Godmother picks up King Harold for a talk. He even has the accent...

I met THE most gorgeous man I have ever seen in real life. (I mean Matthew McConaughey is better looking but he doesn't count because he's pretend.) This guy was my ideal of real life perfect handsome manhood. He was six foot two, brown wavy hair, light sprinkling of gray at the temples, chiseled chin, good shoulders,nice chest. Whoa baby slice me off a piece of that! He poked his head in the teacher's lounge and said, "Hi ladies." and I swear we all giggled like 7th graders. I batted my ...

I met THE most gorgeous man I have ever seen in real life. (I mean Matthew McConaughey is better looking but he doesn't count because he's pretend.) This guy was my ideal of real life perfect handsome manhood. He was six foot two, brown wavy hair, light sprinkling of gray at the temples, chiseled chin, good shoulders,nice chest. Whoa baby slice me off a piece of that! He poked his head in the teacher's lounge and said, "Hi ladies." and I swear we all giggled like 7th graders. I batted my ...

The title comes from a line in the poem Black Light (II) by David St. John published in the Spring 2002 issue of Blackbird. It started as a free write exercise in my writing group. I liked how it came out so I'm sharing it. Swift and uncomplicated love Permission to give myself to you to me to this moment to say yes to life to believe the lie that it will be Swift and uncomplicated love It's not about shame or wounds or scars or religion or psychology It's about investing...

I live with mood disorders among my family members. Mood swings like you wouldn't believe. Child is coloring nicely--wait... DUCK! He just chucked a shoe at my head. You put the clutch in, shift, and keep going. What does this have to do with my CD's? Maybe it's because I am, in fact, a teacher and perpetual student of music; maybe I'm overdue for a meds check my own self. Even I find my choices odd. The favorites that I carry with me from car to car are a little, well, bipolar. Here'...

Electronic hasps divide day from night. Impossibly pink and patronizing. The receptionist assures me that nothing is out of the ordinary. She doesn’t have the black eye and the welt. I sit in the mock living room till I can go back. The pallid man with a widow’s peak and prominent cuspids tells me he has again lost his job and his apartment and asks how I’m doing. Dear God, tell me that wasn’t some kind of pick-up line. “No ring, I see.” (Eew, it was.) “What monster gave you that...

I am not a perfect parent. I try. I am acutely aware of my short-comings. I offer my children the choice--either go to therapy now on my tab, or deal with it later and pay for it yourself. OK-So I was having one of those mind-numbingly frustrating conversations with my 13yo. It went something like this: "Why can't I?" "Because A B and C" "But why can't I?" "Let's review--because A B and C" "But Why?" "Why do you ask of you aren't going to listen to the answer?" "Why Can't I?" At this...

I am not a perfect parent. I try. I am acutely aware of my short-comings. I offer my children the choice--either go to therapy now on my tab, or deal with it later and pay for it yourself. OK-So I was having one of those mind-numbingly frustrating conversations with my 13yo. It went something like this: "Why can't I?" "Because A B and C" "But why can't I?" "Let's review--because A B and C" "But Why?" "Why do you ask of you aren't going to listen to the answer?" "Why Can't I?" At this...

Accounts Payable One envelope among many White windowed demands A lavender square The cursive I taught you Ink straddles the miles Like Colossus And conjures the sacred Smell of your baby neck Watchband abrasions Days exchanged for electricity And the privilege of not knowing Where waste goes Fold spindle mutilate Shish kabob them all For one more tickle fight Ten years ago.

I teach at a Catholic school. I love my job. I love the students, the parents, and my fellow teachers. However, I am not Catholic. So, every once in a while the students catch me a in a non-Catholic faux-pas. For instance, my students were having a particular difficult time catching on to what I was asking them to do. Finally, they got it, and I said, "Halleluiah!" The kids were aghast. "Mrs. Mitchell! It's Lent!" (You don't sing Alleluia during lent) Oops! ...

I teach at a Catholic school. I love my job. I love the students, the parents, and my fellow teachers. However, I am not Catholic. So, every once in a while the students catch me a in a non-Catholic faux-pas. For instance, my students were having a particular difficult time catching on to what I was asking them to do. Finally, they got it, and I said, "Halleluiah!" The kids were aghast. "Mrs. Mitchell! It's Lent!" (You don't sing Alleluia during lent) Oops! ...

My oldest son is a 19yo private in the US Marine Corps. He has a young wife and a new baby. He was cleaning his weapon and nicked his finger. He was a boy scout; he got his first aid merit badge. So he washed it, slapped on a Band-Aid, and went on about his regularly scheduled day. Now he is facing at least a month in the hospital as the doctors whittle away necrotic tissue. He has developed pneumonia.He will require a skin graft if he does not lose his finger entirely. He has a particularly ...

YESSSS!!!! Today is the day we look forward to every year. As soon as it's past we count approximately 365 or so days till it comes again. We plan, we dream, we make lists. Maybe next year we'll start decorating the house for it and sending out cards. It's (insert trumpet fanfare here) TAX RETURN DAY! Tax Return Day is the one day a year I can afford to take my large family to a restaurant that doesn't have color pictures of the food on the menu. Then I let my little darling shop fo...