Five Things that Don't Suck, Poet Visit Edition

1. poets
2. when they visit
3. how smart they are
4. and how good to talk with
5. cake

Five Things that Don't Suck, How to Make it Better Edition

1. create meaningful cross-cultural dialog
2. understand that your experience is not THE universal experience
3. show respect for differences
4. remove the word "tolerance" from your vocabulary and replace it with "acceptance"
5  more hugs*

*I mean it. One extra hug a day. Do it.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Poet-Professor Edition

1. balance
2. the way that balance is a thing that exists
3. totally knowing how to find that balance
4. and how to hold that balance
5. and the occasional round of fooling oneself

Five Things that Don't Suck, National Suicide Prevention Week Edition

1. you
2. how essential you are in the world
3. how truly loved you are
4. the people who have saved me
5. this life

Five Things that Don't Suck, Professor and Poet Edition

1. maybe being able to balance this whole poet/professor thing this semester
2. writing some poems over the weekend
3. being ready for class today
4. office hours
5. a gradual ramp-up for the semester

Five Things that Don't Suck, Long Weekend Edition

1. having time to hang out with Jed
2. and make some art
3. and draft a poem
4. and get working on some blurbs I owe to friends for their new books (!!)
5. and sit with the bees

A Poem that Doesn't Suck

I have a poem up at Clementine Poetry Journal. It's so fresh it still has that new poem smell, but it won't lose half its value the second you drive it off the lot. Check it out if you'd like.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Except for the Poor Spiders Edition

1. running a vacuum in all the corners
2. sucking up the chihuahuas of dog hair that have been tumbleweeding their way through the house
3. hunting down that web on the stairs
4. not seeing some kind of thin, shining thread in a new place every time the light changes
5. giving some of the flies and moths a fighting chance