Category: Lists

• Cats growling at corners
• Cleansing with the moon, the sun, the air instead of incense
• The protection of prayer
• Rituals: there are so many rituals in this world for relaxation, readiness, keeping panic at bay, protection, tea or coffee, cooking, holidays…
• Ellipses are so much more than a representation of missing words in a quote. They let a thought stretch or indicate an appositive that’s softer than other punctuated explanations. They annoy…oh, the bliss of stretching the English language and its guardians of grammar.
• The pull of naps or twilight daydreams
• The increasing pollen annually
• The horrifying entitlements that crash against me increasing the need to flee into words, stories, books, other lives, laziness
• The way a bedroom can become a safe haven for the spirit even in a bright, happy home
• Shades of loneliness versus the choice of alone
• The power we give away
• The shame we hold inside
• The odd taste of words swallowed in blood

The Commonplace Project begins , so I’m planning on putting each assignment up here to show solidarity with my seniors and give the confused ones mediocre great examples.

A List

• Gentle hum of chatter
• Counting
• Brainstorming out loud
• No, five more, water.
• She can’t chase us down
• I may be old, but I can still write you up
• Feet pounding their way up the hill
• Picture taking
• A door squeaking
• The breeze is perfect and reminds me that right now my classroom is running hot. It’s always fun to take seniors or poets out to write in different locations around the school. My former students probably remember my favorite spots on campus—if only tptb would stop cutting down the big trees.
• So many personal devices
• My inability to type well on my personal device
• Phone is so pedestrian for these mini computer-communicators
• Soot on a building that looks like sinking wings
• Picture taking—twice?!? My hat with my YaYA scarf as decoration around it. (Thanks HB)
• Chatter as they walk back down the hill
• Pale legs and arms
• Bright blue sky
• Grass already patching to brown
• Parsing left behind examples into who might still want them, which ones should just be tossed for lack of original effort, and which ones are decent examples of how or what could be done. My big question is do I make them present since we are starting the project so early? We will end the year with a couple of documentaries and related debates.

Health and wealth are on the decline while meanness is on the rise, showing the zombie in some people instead of the soul.

Drive on smaller highways and byways, see all the empty buildings calling out to be captured in your camera…careful you don’t get lost in the holes looking out…

It snows it April now, but doesn’t stick in the bowls & valleys that dot the landscape.

It rains on the east side the way it used to on the west side, but the ocean still beats at the shores…

Yetis have been welcomed by their Sasquatch kin in the woods high in the hills and mountains…other cryptids have been spotted on small-town streets late at night, from the corners of eyes.

Teenagers have stopped sneaking out at night; instead they surf the digital waves, becoming pixilated which makes life tougher when they can’t connect back to the analog reality.

Books have started moving in the library and the computers look like they’ve been taking hits—a war of words and information that’s bleeding into the day.

Poetry is on the rise. Teenagers who dig deep into words without sound around them to stop the magic from coming in…

All the colors are bleeding and the desert is drinking them in, changing the landscape something fierce: will the Courts know where they are when they come back?

Music is a language again. All on its own.

Celilo Falls is still there, under all that water…

Waiting for the fish & the spear-fishers to return.

Someday the concrete will be gone…

And the water will be free.

The Columbia calls to people in Boardman…they don’t always go to the home they came from.

• In the middle of a dust storm on I-84 between Hermiston and Pendleton. Ignore the sand walkers you can only see from the corner of your eye. Slow and steady.
• Coming down Cabbage Hill from LaGrande to Pendleton in fog so thick a wrong turn will take you a dimension over…ignore the lights that aren’t quite diffused enough to be from an actual car or truck. Slow and steady.
• Walking around Wallowa Lake be careful of the Summer Court and the Winter Court, but always be more careful of Coyote. In the fall, never folllow the elk back to their home at the bottom of the lake. Never disrespect Chief Joseph or his people…
• Don’t let the theater ghosts follow you home from school…all the schools with theaters have at least one. If you hear their footsteps, just keep walking slow and steady. Don’t look back.
• Be careful of The Lavender House. Sure everyone goes out there time and again. It’s always the thirteenth trip that crosses wires in your car or in your head. It’s a two hour walk to find cell service after your car breaks down and it’s a rare day of rain, every time.
• On the North Fork of the John Day river it’s easy to find Bigfoot’s Cabin. Never go in without need or take without need. Always leave a thank you gift, no matter how small. They don’t like rude people—rude people end up picking the wrong mushrooms in the fall.
• Don’t listen to the wind in The Dalles. Those who do end up out past the cherry orchards or almost knee deep in the Columbia River without knowing quite how they got so far. Slow and steady.
• When you go to Pendleton for the “world famous” Round Up, never jump the line at The Rainbow; never let the changelings hypnotize you; and skip the third step going down to Crabby’s for a dance. Never ever get lost from your group at The Pendleton Underground—strays don’t always make it out…
• Ignore the bronze statues on moonless nights. Every small town has a few. You might get stuck on their pedestals while they get to stretch into your life. Slow and steady.

I originally posted this to my tumblr on 08/20/2018