Push it out

That's the Beta Band. Also what I was doing today with the comments on student papers. Sometimes, I would rather chew rocks. But they are done, for better or worse. I wisely kept the best papers for last - those rare few papers that have something to say & say it well; one drew a thoroughgoingly graceful comparison of the Civil Rights context with that of the current gay marriage debate - as the former was a clear societal wrong, so too is the latter. I'd never given an A before, but this student made me.

It's been a few days since I've written a palatable poem. As G______ said, you've got to find your voice (as everyone says one must) because, having done so, you're able to know not only how to sing, but also when your voice is hitting the flats and sharps. I like this analogy. I suppose then that what I've been writing the last fourish days has been so much phlegmy but still important harrumphing.

Now for dinner with Mark Doty. The written version of him, anyway.