I finished up my three-session high school seminar yesterday afternoon, which went well, I think. Despite the administrative chaos, the kids were persistent about showing up and about participating. Each session was only an hour long--so short as to be breathless--but the students nonetheless managed to write 11 first drafts, each of them at least 10 lines long. I think that's an enormous output, given our cramped circumstances. Week 1 we focused on the poetic sentence; week 2 on poetry as a container for emotion; week 3 on poetry as power. Obviously these categories overlap, but the also build on each other, and by the final session the kids were thinking fairly complexly about poem-length metaphors, inhabiting other characters, and structure as an emotional tool. So, success!

Today is likely to be a this-n-that day: yoga, paperwork, email answering, phone talking, trash collection, bread making, a smidge of editing, some Frost Place work, maybe even some dusting. And I'd like to do some planting in the afternoon: carrots and beets and chard, most likely. In exciting news, my peas are up!

We could use some rain, but the temperatures are glorious--low 60s, with a southerly breeze, sinking lightly into the 40s at night. The Hill Country is a sea of blue scylla, speckled with yellow daffodils. The cardinals are flirting; the woodpeckers are tapping. Neighbor children argue about bikes and sidewalk chalk, as their little sister bawls. Crows swoop past with beaks full of twigs, and white pillowcases waltz on the line.

I'm still feeling overwhelmed by obligations, but at least the air is dulcet.