my name is Christmas

my name is Christmas,
and I don't care what people think
I know I am about love

my name is Christmas, and
I am alive and will always be
alive in this world

my name is Christmas,
and I am family;
new babies, and grandparents
and parents and brothers and sisters

my name is Christmas,
and I am not things,
but I am Dr. Seussian
thoughts, dreams, and hopes

my name is Christmas,
and I am icicle lights,
and color, and joy to the
world
and
peace on earth

my name is Christmas,
and I am forgiveness
and inclusion, not exclusion
my name is Christmas,
and I am Jesus

my name is lung

This is a fun writing exercise that I created from a student's cut-up poem. All you do is start out with "my name is," and add a tangible object into the blank. Go from there in whatever way you'd like. Here are some of mine:

My name is lung,
and I breathe all names in the
same way, hoping for a fresh fruit
to cut open with my lips.

My name is rain,
and I soak all parts of your body
with my newness
hoping for a chance
to come open like a cloud.

My name is metal, and I
resonate with your tap
(click click).

My name is paint,
and I saturate the canvas
with my watercolor sadness,
waiting for a cue from the brush
to find my way into the day.

My name is bean,
and I sprout for you in
the shallow soil when I
should be digging deep
for myself.

new lit journals

I guess since I am publishing in two Issue I publications, I can give myself as well as them, a little plug. Wordletting is one publication. Its website is not yet ready, but you can find info about it under a google search for "Colorado Poetry Publications." The Lyre is the other one. It is a publication out of Wisconsin. It doesn't have a website yet either. I am excited to say I have been working hard submitting, and it is starting to pay off. I appreciate any literary endeavor, and am glad to be a part of two new ones. Appalachian love to you all! Holly

thebigboxofcolors

My wonderful friend, Mariam has created a website to benefit needy kids through art. You can send kids the big 64 box of Crayolas for the holidays, or any time of the year.
The website is called www.thebigboxofcolors.org
It is a really unique and beautiful idea.
I actually just got a poem published that was written for Mariam. Also, she recently married a poet. This makes me very happy. His website is www.ccapoet.com
They live in Seattle with Lydia, an amazing young lady who is also a creative genius.

an excerpt from the poem, Mariam,:

Heart suck
pull, mince into
tiny squares
thick Asian pears
for biting in the sun.

...

You dance with color inside your
winter coat.

laryngitis

Well, seems time for a new blog, especially since I can't actually talk. I let a cold go on for 2 weeks, and now I have laryngitis. I am also in the last week of classes.
First of all, I go nuts in the last few weeks of classes because I feel that whatever I didn't get done, whatever my students didn't learn, whatever I wanted to teach them that they didn't get or I forgot or didn't stress enough or didn't have time to show them, is all my fault, and I have failed as a teacher. I know, I know, this seems extreme. You say, "How can you possibly be responsible for all of that?" Well, in a way, I am. That is my job. Yes, they have to want to learn, do their assignments, etc. What about the ones that do?
We are on the last paper, the persuasive paper. GOD help me.
I was absent one day with illness. I didn't get to go over logical fallacies, and MLA style citation as much as I wanted to, though we did cover it. Their papers leave much to be desired. Shall I tell them they can't write about certain topics, i.e., abortion, AIDs, and other very broad topics? I feel if I tell them to focus, and at this point they should have some understanding of how to focus a paper, that they can write on any topic that they'd like, as long as they give specific examples. Now don't forget, these are the students that do want to learn, do their assignments, etc. Now as far as sources, I have told them to leave it to one or two. It's only a 3 pager. So how hard can it be? I understand, especially when I was 19 or so, I had a hard time arguing a point because I didn't really know how I felt about many things, or I knew how I felt, but didn't have the ability to speak poignantly about what I felt without slathering it with useless emotion, no fact, no ethics. So, why do I expect my students to do this? Tell me, what am I doing wrong? Suggestions? Comments? Helpful quotes? Lesson Plans? I am truly at a loss here.

I want to write about exciting things, like how I lost fifteen pounds on the Atkins diet, and now I have twelve boyfriends!! I want to write about how I climbed onto my roof and hanglided (hanglid?:) down into town for some lunch today. I want to write about how I don't have high blood pressure, like my father, and I never will, nor will I need to worry about it. I want to write about how I changed the world with a flick of my wrist and a little bit of spittle from my cold...how I made a magic potion and now all of the world's hungry have been fed! And AIDs is cured! And Cancer!!! all from the wrist flicking and spittle...
I want to write about how I am traveling to the far East to visit my friends and have learned Chinese and am totally ready for my PhD, and have been accepted into 15 programs, though I only applied to 6. I want to write about death in a bathroom and life in the toilet. I don't care, just not about teaching and being sick. Oh well, too late.

new car

I finally broke down, after months of having problems with my sister's Pathfinder that I was driving, and bought a "new" car. It's so pretty, dark green. It's a VW Jetta GLS Wagon. I feel rich. I guess really I am, but I will still have to budget like crazy to make this car work. I need to anyway. I am realizing how little I do budget, and how much I need to. I buy things that I don't need. Boy do I love eating out at Guadalupe. I want to keep doing this, but now I know that this will not be possible. I'll have to eat tuna in my new Jetta, and not Albacore.

Thanksliving

Sudan is making some headway with a meeting in Addis Ababa (love the name of this city), Ethiopia trying to get help from the UN for the Darfur region. I had some students in Denver who were from Sudan. I know for sure one was in the Dinka tribe, spoke Dinka...the Lost Boys...If you haven't heard of them, look them up online. One student told me his story in a Narrative Essay. I was given a strong dose of "you don't know jack" from these students, from this story in particular. I will never forget it. When this boy, only 8 or so, was living with his tribe in a small village, extremist Muslims came into the town. They proceeded to bomb, pillage, chop with machetes, rape, etc. Almost his entire family was killed, except for his brother and grandmother. He ended up hiding in a swamp, riddled with mosquitos, being bitten over and over for 2 days with some people in his tribe. When they emerged, the village was virtually destroyed, but he, his grandmother, and his brother, along with other survivors, had a lavish (for them) dinner to celebrate just being alive...
We should all be aware of what we have.
THANKSGIVING is coming up, and whether you celebrate it or not, it is good to be thankful every day. This country lives in unbelievable luxury. A friend of mine made a t-shirt that cracked me up. It said: Freedom is CONvenience. The con was in red, the other letters in blue. Convenience is no longer a luxury, but people in this country think it is a NEED. So ridiculous, really. We lose so much nutrition, literally and figuratively by purchasing such "conveniences": bread, water, meat, coffee, earrings, shoes, that come ready-made, when we could take the time to cook, sew, create. I am not immune to this either, of course. I bought some earrings yesterday, and I praise myself for recycling. It's really quite sad. We can all do something.
I have no real answers because we all have our own way of helping, but being aware is important. I want to hear, feel, see, taste, and smell the blessings that are everywhere around me. They are everywhere around us. Be aware of them.

Why did I start a blogsite?

I've always wanted to name a zine this, so now I have a blog. Oh lordy, what have I done??? I was just complaining about being uncomfortable on compooters. So this is my remedy...We'll see what happens...

I guess first I'd like to say, I like to wear light blues and pinks and sage greens lately. I like to look like a little girl, with a skirt and pants underneath. The moon has always mezmerized me.
The mountains will always be my true home. I want desperately to be more like my dog, Ophelia.

Why honkycackle? Just say it aloud, and listen to the sound it makes. It's those hard K sounds that do it for me. Plus, laughter, my laughter is obnoxiously loud, makes some people homocidal, others want to laugh with me. I think it makes most happy. I love to laugh. When I teach I laugh a lot. Teaching does not need to be a serious endeavor all the time, nor does learning.

Geez, this is too strange for me. I write for meself, but now for all to see.