RAE’S READS

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This year (2025) finds me with 53 years of teaching “under my belt.” I have taught all levels from pre-K “(library lady” or “book lady”–volunteer) to juniors, seniors, and graduate students enrolled in my Advanced Writing class at the university where I have just completed 34 years. My first paying teaching job was junior high, and I spent 13 years with ages 12-13, the “difficult years.” I had some of the “funnest” experiences with this age group. When I was no longer the “young, fun teacher,” I taught in an elementary school setting before sixth graders went on to junior high, teaching language arts blocs, an assignment that was a “dream-fit” for me. After completing graduate school in my 40s, I went on to community college, then university teaching. This past fall I accepted a part-time teaching job at Apogee Gulf Coast Schools in its first year at the Alvin campus. After my Better Half died n 2022, I achieved a lifelong dream: opening a bookstore of my own, Rae’s Reads. A year later, I sold the house we had lived in for 47 years and moved into the bookstore. My goal is to circulate and repurpose books. Just as teaching is “in my blood,” so is a passion for reading, writing, libraries, and everything bookish. This blog will be open to anyone who loves books, promotes literacy and wants to “come out and play.”

AFTER LONG LAST, POETRY

More poetry in 2021

It has been a long time since I read a collection of poems–not a good thing since reading more poetry was one of my 2021 Reading Goals. However, recently I received from a free source a collection of poems, billed as “40 Poems of Learning About Life.”

The author examines what she has learned about life along the way of her journey through it.

This interesting collection of poems begins in Dunham’s “comforts and questions of childhood.” Perhaps the most interesting and most well-known and well-received in this section is “My Mother, Turning Heads,” a child’s response to her mother’s attractiveness to others. The poems continue through the “yearnings, uncertainties, and every day joys of young adulthood,” perhaps my favorite group of poems. A few poems near the end deal with the complexities of middle age and aging, also an important part of the collection. All of the poems deal with “forgiveness, heartbreak, and joy,” universal themes that appeal to all readers. The author’s “take” on these themes is unique and original. I was particularly intrigued by the “Invisible Girl,” who shows up in an early poem and later makes a repeat appearance.

THE ARRIVAL OF THE INVISIBLE GIRL

Curled up in bed

in the dark of the room,

a heavy gray

weight, the

woolen blanket

pulled up to her chin.

From the kitchen

the nightly discord.

Through the window

a street light glows.

The invisible girl

arrives,

wordlessly offers

to become a friend

…for life.

I like the think of the Invisible Girl as the author’s Authentic Self arriving as the young girl lies daydreaming in her comfortable bed. Hopefully, Dunham has stayed true to their friendship and celebrates her inner self, The Invisible Girl daily as an adult. I must confess I did not fully understand the Invisible Girl’s reappearance when the author is an adult. The Invisible Girl returns in “…another’s stone-faced stare.” Perhaps I have totally misinterpreted the entire concept of the poems. I would love to ask the author what she intended in introducing The Invisible Girl.

Poetry has many meanings for many different people. Sometimes we find in poems things the poet never intended to be there.

Pretty soon I will start reading some of the Cybils nominations for children’s and YA poetry. (I already have some books from the library.)

I will be a first round reader in the areas of children’s and YA poetry.

This will definitely accomplish reading more poetry in 2021.

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2 responses to “AFTER LONG LAST, POETRY”

  1. Rae Longest Avatar
    Rae Longest

    Reblogged this on Literacy and Me.

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  2. Carla Avatar
    Carla

    One thing I like about poetry is that we can all take our own message from it. This sounds like a good book. Great share, Rae.

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