Close to so much
Yet surrounded by incredible silence

Imagining the world’s hectic places

Thankful for this moment
Close to everything

Alone and at peace.

We need to cut millions from the budget?
Really?

Teacher layoffs?
Administrators, too?
No buses for the high school?
Which sports get cut?
Will the clubs and activities go too?
Not the arts, they wouldn’t cut the arts, would they?

or

“Why are they taking my role models?
My leaders
My exercise
My fun?”

“How can they expect me
to focus on metric conversion
and additive inverse
when outside my window
all I can see is
Doom and Gloom
and their stupid broom
going zoom-zoom
on all the rooms

of my life.”

I was Mickey Stanley
in my mind.
The Tiger great
and I
were the outfield generals
of our teams.

In my teens,
I caught the soccer bug.

My mit found its place
on the shelf in the garage

After school, I raced around the soccer field
with some of my baseball buddies.

Maybe Pele was in the back of my head,
but I became “Crazy Legs”
and the “Mad Armenian” —
a wild man on defense goin’ for the ball,
clearin’ it out when needed,
controlin’ mid-field play.

Lovin’ the big sky,
the grass,
the game.

These days,
I bop back and forth
between our church softball team
and an over-40 soccer team.

Few more creaks in the knees
Few steps slower

And havin’ just as much fun
As ever.

Strange Meetings

The
“Man Who Thought
He’d Lost
All Hope
L o s e s L a s t
Additional Bit of Hope
He Didn’t Even Know
He
Still
Had”

met

the
“Depressed?
Try Liposuction
on that
Pesky Head”
guy.

Oddly enough,
they hit it off.

Just then,
“Man Surprised
He Still Had Peg
to
Be
Taken
Down”
saw them
together.

That’s when
things got ugly.

It’s been too long.

Why don’t we get together
More often?

Life is short.
Let’s meet for lunch.
Let’s say what’s on our minds.
It’s all good.

Dependent

If I didn’t have any paper,
I’d have to write this on a leaf, I guess.

And I don’t think I could make a pen,
Though some rocks make marks, I suppose.

The bus I’m on is zooming along at 70 mph.;
I don’t even look up very often.

I couldn’t make clothes for myself
Unless someone gave me a sheet to wrap myself in.

I don’t recall ever killing anything to eat it,
(I just opened a Cheetos bag and tore through it)

Water just appears in bottles;
I’d have to walk miles to find a spring.

Without an audience, these words would never be read.
Thanks.

A.A. Kabodian
November 1, 2009

Choosing something to share with the nation wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I almost chose a digital story, but decided to opt for simplicity and found a poem. I chose a poem I wrote several years ago as a tribute to my grandparents. It’s called “A Hope Unspoken” and it’s a small gift in memory of the struggle they went through to get here and then to survive once they were here.

I’m writing this in hopes that you will share a piece of your writing with the nation also. Don’t be shy, don’t be self-conscious, don’t go all “I’m not a writer” on me. You know you have at least one piece of writing that you feel good about…so share it. Let’s celebrate the written word. It’s one way to feel in a national community of writers. And how often does that happen?

Better yet, visit a National Park. Pick one at the PBS site or at the National Park Service website. We loved Yosemite National Park; the hike to Vernal Falls was one of our favorite hikes.

What I really want to share is the wordle I made from his article. I copied and pasted the entire text into a word box at wordle.net. Just go to the “Create” tab. I’m inserting it below to show you what I mean. The words that occur the most are the made to be the largest. I chose the color combination. Try it.

* celebrated Aaron’s graduation from high school
* went fishing for a week on the Au Sable River with three friends
* co-led a Middle School Tech Camp at MSU with Stacey S.
* have been assisting as needed with the Summer Institute at Red Cedar Writing Project. We went on a Writing Marathon for one day of the four-week institute. Also began reading one of their books called Teaching the New Writing.
* read City of Ember and thought about how to incorporate it into the 7th grade curriculum; one of those rare times when the movie may have been better than the book.
* saw the new Transformers movie on an IMAX screen. Pretty impressive.
* scored a goal in a soccer game with my 40 and over men’s team, the Balding Eagles.
* ran across this NPR piece called “Can You Be Friends with Your Mom…on Facebook?” If the topic intrigues you, check out the link; there’s even a link at the top of that page that says “Listen Now” and I recommend hearing Jennifer Sharpe tell her story, too.
* went to Grand Haven with Judy and then visited friends in Frankfort; went sailing for the first time in years (on Crystal Lake). Yahoo!
* experienced the Los Lonely Boys at Common Ground
* watched Man on Wire on dvd and was amazed (I’ll be writing a review of it soon)
* began reading Writing Toward Home at the suggestion of a friend
* spoke with Dean H from school and began planning for the Journalism class I’ll be teaching in the fall

and somehow I still feel pretty relaxed.