Poem: "Voting Booth"

source: new york times

their children's legs stick out of
the nylon curtains

pretending to vote

Scott says he

became political when
he was six,

Truman

was president.

Mom stays in the car,

having already cast her vote,
the voting commissioners will fuck it up, though

On the way no one knows

who to vote

dappled road

smiling

ken davis

whenever my dad
had a few Pabst Blue
Ribbons then later it was miller -
he would run down FDR

a Pinko

and Edwin Edwards -

because we knew he was
a crook

better the crook you

know -

Buddy Tauzin drove up on
the trains tracks in La Place,

ruffled

feathers draped across
the front of the caboose -

touching the crevice of a hole,
chiseled into the polished marble,
wall of the State Capitol
where Senator Long was shot
in Second Grade,
a school field trip, -
with Ms. Cerami,
we were allowed to trace our fingers into the depressed hole -

consciousness is a tumulus on
the plain of death

"cowards die many times
before their deaths, the brave
only once"

 PDF Copy for Printing © 2010 Greig Roselli

Photograph: Swiss Guards

In 2007, I visited the Vatican and took this photograph of two Swiss Guards.

Swiss Guards Standing Guard near the Cancello Petriano in the Vatican City. The Paul VI Audience Hall is visible in the right background. The Teutonic cemetery is also visible straight ahead and to the right is part of the Colonnade of Saint Peter's Square.  (Image Credit © 2007 Greig Roselli)

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Video Repost: Is this the End of Publishing?

I  thought this video was thought-provoking. I presented the video to my classroom with mixed results.

Some comments from ninth grade students:

• "I get distracted when I read. It's not ideas I don't like, it's reading."

• "I think it's ironic they posted it on Youtube."

• I get it but it's hard to explain." 

• "Well, I don't read but I'm still smart."

• "I read in magazines what Lady Gaga's wearing, does that count?"

• "Oh, it reverses!"

• "They say 'Lady Gaga" with an "R" sound." 

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Handout: Invocations Inspired by the Odyssey of Homer

A little handout of made up invocations for the Odyssey (with apologies)

credits: odysseus, penelope, telemachus, athena   text: greig roselli © 2010 with apologies to the muses and to homer.

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Poem: Test Anxiety

photo credit: trainsignaltraining

his face flushes rust
pen to paper smooth
his face squished, concentrated

in the morning,
before school

he is aglow with the joy
of youth

in the span of a day,
will you complete the cycle of turns?

will you go from ruddy to rude?
from studious to confused,
or cling to a man, a boy or a girl,

unaware as of yet on how to
articulate a body in space
time
laughing, loving
the essence of being human?

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NOLA: Saint Charles Streetcar at Nashville

Passenger Peering

Streetcar Seat Slats

Groovy Grounds

Location: Green St, New Orleans, United States

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Poem: "Weight Problem"

photo credit: transiacc

I was shaving, showing my tummy in the mirror

A plump pudge gathered round
my navel,
a pink mound
peering and chuckling
over my pyjamas.
I poked my pinky into my flesh
a skin landscape, a planet of hair
laughing back at me
as I glided my razor across my
smooth gilette face.

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