{ad ridiculum: moreso ad nauseum}

did they make you write those good news/bad news “poems” when you were in gradeschool/junior high? like,

good news: I made the baseball team
bad news: so did Joey and I hate him
good news: I hit a home run
bad news: I hurt my ankle running

and so on ad ridiculum.

good news: teaching poetry to children. bad news: giving them insipid and ridiculous forms to follow. granted, I was an exceptionally skeptical child by all reports (some things do not change) but at 12 this was already nothing I had any interest in.

the form (can you call it a form? whatever) popped into my head this morning because it’s pretty much how I’ve been rollercoastering all week: good news! great feedback from a great poet on the manuscript. bad news: trying to re-order the manuscript is crazy-making. good news! taping for Def Jam. bad news: stress over dumb stuff like what to wear and do that’s under 2 minutes and air-likely vs. the new poems that have nothing to do with Def Jam interests and would never see air. good news! weird new poems happening. bad news: another lit mag rejection. another. and more than that, the simple madness of trying to remember that I am where I need to be and all is moving as it should, even if it is in three directions at once.

I wonder if those dumb gradeschool forms could ever be resurrected/reinvented. might fit into my notion of the new book. good news! the caterpillar hates his fur coat. bad news: the text on the chalkboard is ash & gum. and so on. hm.