THE HYPNOTIST ATTACKS WITH NOCTURNE ENVY!

Here's the thing. When you're a kid, you have this incredible exuberance. You have a lot of fears, but at least you're not afraid of saying what you want to say. Poetry isn't all that far from your basic mindstate. And then you learn how to drive or whatever, and you aren't afraid, but there's a lot of stuff you don't want to say. And then, in college, you learn all kinds of things about the importance of speaking, the voice, the self, the mask of the self, the ways in which every act of writing introduces a strange mask, one that looks almost exactly like you. After graduation, if you have survived your education, you might have to live by a river in a tall brown building with green shutters for YEARS until you can forget all of it. Maybe you need some divorces, some party dresses that don't fit anymore, whatever it takes for you. And then, if you're lucky, after many years of that kind of hanging around you can write a poem called HYPNOTIST VS. PUNCHY FACE GIRL.

I USED TO BE AN ASTRONAUT, BUT NOW I'M A ROCK. I USED TO BE SMART BUT NOW I'M SMARTER. I USED TO BE TALL BUT NOW I'M HUGE WITH BIG FEET.

The above is an except from the group poem one of my 8th grade classes wrote today. In case you're wondering, I consider it an overwhelming success.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know why I was nervous about teaching these kids. As soon as I stood up in front of them, I realized, "Oh, they're just children! I get it!" I'm definitely an adult to them. Probably kind of weird, as adults go, but still. Soon I'll post more highlights from my teaching experience, but I'm kind of zonked right now, and really, all I have coming my way is an ice cream sandwich and an episode of the OC. And that's exactly how I like it.

In other news, I still don't care what's on G.W.'s iPod.