All Hallow's Eve

All Hallows Eve has arrived once more

A night of paranormal mystery is in store

A night to be someone completely different with cheer

Or be your true self without fear

Howl at the moon

Ride a broom

Then eat, eat, and eat

Until your stomach is sore

All Hallows Eve has arrived once more.

Happy Halloween!! I hope yours was an interesting as mine was!!

Workshop of Wonderful Memories

About a year ago, I had the honor of taking a writing workshop with poet Mark Doty. Besides being a great writer, he is intelligent, funny, and an all around nice guy. As an exercise, he asked us to draw a floor plan of the first house we remember living in. Given that I hadn't lived in the Rhode Island house where I grew up in 11 years, I didn't expect to remember as much as I had. Once completed, we added at least one specific detail to each room. I could have been a unique design feature, or an item we had in the room. Step three was to choose one of those details and write a poem about it. Here is mine:

It takes up almost half the living room
With it's ugly, tan L-shape.
But to me, it's more than just a couch.
More than just an eyesore
Dying to be thrown away.
It's where I learned to read,
Where my family come together to catch up,
Where my brother and I find entertainment.
Bored on a rainy day,
We take the thick, square cushions off their frame
And build a fort.
Sorry Mom.
Can't come in with out the pass word.
Getting out of the fort, my brother knocks all the pillows on me.
I'm buried.
We both laugh as I crawl my way out of the darkness.
After I'm free, he takes a running jump
And lands on the comfy pile of pillows.
Not wanting to miss out,
I follow him.
Soon, the smell of chicken and stuffing starts to fill the air.
So we reluctantly put the cushions back in place
And start getting ready for dinner.
Leaving the couch as a couch.
For now!!

Keep in mind, this was off the top of my head and I haven't worked on it since. No, it's not a masterpiece. But it does bring back wonderful memories. Both of the workshop and of the ugly, tan couch.

Dance Like No One's Watching

In honor of National Dance Day, I'm going to share a poem I wrote about the best ten years of my life.

When out on stage I felt alive.
Turning, leaping, tapping,
For the best I would strive.

Dancing was what I knew
For ten long years.
Unfortunately, I ventured on to something new.

My degree became my new goal.
Dance left my life for evermore.
I lost part of my soul.

Turning, leaping, tapping,
Thinking, reading, writing,
Turning, leaping, tapping.

My regrets in life are few,
My biggest one, hanging up my dancing shoes.

I still can't help time-stepping in the kitchen while waiting for my popcorn to pop, or pirouetting in my room to my favorite song. In one way or another dance will always be a part of my life. Even if it's only through watching shows like So You Think You Can Dance or Dancing With The Stars. But now that I have my degree, it has become my new goal to get back in the dance studio...once I get a full time job that is!