Roadside Flowers

Roadside Flowers

by Billy Collins

These are the kind you are supposed
to stop to look at, as I do this morning,
but just long enough
so as not to carry my non-stopping
around with me all day,
a big medicine ball of neglect and disregard.

But now I seem to be carrying
my not-stopping-long-enough ball
as I walk around
the circumference of myself
and up and down the angles of the day.

Roadside flowers,
when I get back to my room
I will make it all up to you.
I will lie on my stomach and write
in a notebook how lighthearted you were,
pink and white among the weeds,

wild phlox perhaps,
or at least a cousin of that family,
a pretty one who comes to visit
every summer for two weeks without her parents,
she who unpacks her things upstairs
while I am out on the lawn

throwing the ball as high as I can,
catching it almost
every time in my two outstretched hands.

Dress: Vintage Laura Ashley from The Arc Thrift Store - $6
Belt: Goodwill - $2
Shoes: The Arc Thrift Store - $5

So on Monday I started my summer course, "Beginning Fiction Writing." So far it's been amazing, even though I'm not really comfortable with fiction yet. My professor is the brilliant Steve Hayward who actually just came out with a new novel, Don't Be Afraid which you should all check out. He's hilarious and I'm so lucky to be learning from him! So far we've just been doing relatively short exercises, but next week is our "wildfire" week where we have to write 1,000 word stories for every day and have them workshopped by the whole class. I'm super nervous, but I think it will be a great experience for me.  The other day we were working with super short fiction, including six word tragedies and "twovels" or twitter novels (under 140 characters).

My six word tragedy: Stale apricots were his last meal.
My twovel: Ian pulled a fist full of tictacs from his pocket. He dropped the pellets into his mouth and chomped down. She didn’t his deserve halitosis.
And here's my zeugma, which is a rhetorical trope where a single verb modifies multiple objects, one of which is inherently more metaphorical than the others: 
He was stuffed full of hamburgers, french fries and bullshit.

I found this amazing dress at The Arc a couple months ago, but it was floor length when I bought it! Thankfully I have no problem hacking up my clothes, especially when they only cost $6! It just has such an awesome shape and pattern that I just couldn't wait to have it altered before I wore it.

And here's the gorgeous house I'm living in for the summer. It's HUGE and has a ton of random passageways and stair cases that lead nowhere. It's pretty sweet.

Rhyme and Reason

This post goes out to my dear friend and fellow poetry nerd, Ben.

When I recently took a trip to my family's beach house on Fire Island, I was ready to do nothing but lay in the sun and read.

I had finished my novel on the plane, so I set out to search through the wealth of awesomeness that is my grandparent's book collection. It spans several rooms throughout the house and fills at least 4 bookcases. My favorite find was my Grandpa Mort's old copy of The Complete Rhyming Dictionary. Now I typically don't write poetry that rhymes, but I'm constantly looking for a new challenge or spark to get me going. Anyway I went through the dictionary and made lists of my favorite words that rhyme. I think these lists are going to work as a great exercise to get the wheels churning and whatnot (always the hardest part).

Anyway here's one of my lists. I dare you to write a 6 line poem with each line ending in one of these words! Okay I don't dare you, but I'm definitely trying it.

Hard A-
-soiree
-touche
-cliche
-decay
-blase
-disarray

This is one of my favorite writing outfits. The long loose skirt keeps from feeling constricted in any way. The button down denim shirt keeps me from looking like too much of a dirty hippie, and it has a pocket where i can put my pens.

All items from this outfit were purchased at The Arc Thrift Store in Colorado Springs