(Sorting) Laundry

Shirt,
Shirt,
Shirt,

Socks, pants, shirt,

Why do I have so many shirts?

shirt,
long-sleeved shirt,
pants,
pajamas,

I wonder how other people categorize their laundry?

I have the most categories for shirts,

shirt,
long-sleeved shirt,
shirt I need to hang on a hanger,
Oh! this shirt's not really dry yet...

Maybe I'll do more laundry tomorrow.


-Jim DuBois
Jan 22, 1998

Summer, anyway

Bird, hopping on a gravestone

Bird perched on a tomb

The green green grass

Sweat standing on my neck



-Jim DuBois
July 20, 2003

Running Around Eastworks

Running around Eastworks
after Mama's birthday dinner,
we saw the bear!
we ran around the little shack
  with all the poems,
we ran up and down the big hallways.

Watching you reminded me
that it's ok to love.


-Jim DuBois
March 2009

Great themes in poetry

1. Quit procrastinating,
         you’ll be dead soon


2. Flower = vagina,
         please have sex with me


3. This government sucks,
         but I can’t say that directly


4. I am lonely, angry,
         (fill-in the blank), etc.


5. This poem
         is a self-reflective poem


6. I’m a fairly clever intellectual


7. I actually love you,
         and could tell you over and over


8. It’s spring,
         life is filled with beauty, possibility and newness


9. It’s autumn,
         life is rich but impermanent

-Jim DuBois
March 20, 2005

Because of You (Make Another Poem)

Two summers ago I was trying to make up a simple poetry form. I wanted something simple, positive, and rhythmic. An easy form and way to remind other people that they matter to us and the world.

Here is the result of it. Please make up one or two and post them!

The rules:

1. The whole poem is to someone in particular who has made a positive impact on your life. You pick who.
2. Three lines, each starting with "Because of you"
3. One of the lines (you pick which one) has nothing else on it.
4. The other two lines have concrete details of what is better in your life and the world because of the person. Try to be as sincere as you can. And be positive.
5. When the poem is done, post it on their profile, or send them an email of it, or send a copy in the actual mail, or recite it to them, or something friendly like that. (Also, post it here in a comment, so we can see it too!)

Here's a recent one:

(To Kara)

Because of you.
Because of you
    there's a lot more love
    in my life these days.
Because of you
    there's a lot more love
    in the world.


Here are my two, from that summer. (I also posted them on their Facebook walls):

(To Phoebe)

Because of you I'm sleeping better lately
Because of you I sang part of a song as I walked along
Because of you


(To Kristen)

Because of you
Because of you I'm happily reading the last Harry Potter
Because of you the lives of my friend and her child are better

My Dance Shoes ( + Make a poem )

I wrote a poem a year or so ago, and then invented a poetic form from it. Here's the poem:

---
My dance shoes,
black,
slightly worn,
resting after a night of lindy hopping.

Meanwhile,
the milky way
hurtles along its billion year journey.
---

Now here is how you can use the same form, and make a poem, which I really really hope you will do, and post in a comment on this blog. Just follow the directions below.
(the numbers are what line it is, and anything in ( ) is a direction about what to write on that line. Anything besides numbers and directions should be written in the poem, like punctuation and "meanwhile".)

---
1. (concrete, knowable everyday object(s) ),
2. (adjective describing the object(s) ),
3. (a short phrase describing the object(s) ),
4. (an 'ing' phrase [resting, running, reading, etc] about what the object(s) are doing at the moment).

5. Meanwhile,
6. (a very large almost ungraspable concrete object. Meaning something that exists, rather than an entirely abstract concept, but one that is hard to comprehend entirely)
7. (what that object does right now, using a present tense verb [runs, eats, sleeps, hurtles, etc] ).
---

Previously posted on my MySpace blog, with poems after it by other people

Many Words on a List

Red
Car
Music
Pizza
love
Day
Pretty
Sky
Blue
Cloud
Dirt
Grass
Run
Run
Run!!!


-Jim DuBois
1999ish