Go to Bed, Mrs. Merz!

This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by Joyce Sidman

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'm using this for a poetry/poultry workshop for kids this summer. This book is sooo good. This is a book of apology poems as written by 6th graders based on the William Carlos Williams poem of the same title. I mean, kids know all about apologies, right? They're made to apologize all the time whether they mean it or not.

The poems are funny, touching, and then are followed up by responses by the putative recipients of the apologies.

(Like this one:

Roses are red

Violets are blue

I'm still really

pissed off at you.)



I have to admit that I was a sopping, snotty mess by the end of a 48 page book. Things are eaten, pets are put to sleep (boo hoo hoo hooooo!), parents walk out, hamsters bite the hand that feeds them - and there's a little morsel of brilliance in each one of these. But wait, there's more! One last joke in the name of the teacher ... Mrs. Merz. Fans of Vivian Vance salute you!


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I'm Off the Opiates Now

I was having hallucinations in Real Life, so I've stopped the prescription painkillers and gone over-the-counter. Phew! There's nothing wrong with these opiates when you are in pain, but the minute it starts letting up, throw them away! I had trouble differentiating between dream and reality, chat and IM (which could lead to embarrassing moments - Sorry, Kasia!), and was having tactile hallucinations - feeling things that weren't there.
And now that it's out of my system, I go back and look at my blog and ... oh, my. I'll leave it in. It's not the content, it's the execution. I was repetitive and obtuse. I apologise. Perhaps I should go back to cartoons. From now on, all misuses of the English language are the results of carelessness rather than drugs. My bad!
Anyway, Kasia and I staggered around Book Island and above we are trying to figure out what in the name of Yehudi Menuhin (whose quote hangs over my desk at home, just below one from Protagoras) is "Mind Space"?! Book Island looks to be a very nice place for a group conversation and I think the owners said they had Voice available in some parts. I crashed twice, at least, while I was there.
Of course, I crashed seconds after arriving in Thothica this morning. Nice touch, waterfall ending in flames!