a lull, a blessed lull

With my first essay of the semester out of the way, my winter wheat presentation in the past, and a week before my students turn in their fourth essay of the semester, I find myself looking at a week with very little going on. I have two days of English comp this week, one day of intro to poetry, and everything else is cancelled. I can't explain how happy this makes me.

Of course, there is plenty I could be doing to get ahead, but I can do it at a nice, slow pace, stress-free. Plus, there's lots of fun stuff going on this week--family in from out of town, good food, late-night card playing with my mom and sisters. Also, tomorrow, Doug Rice and Craig Paulenich will be reading at Mona's Open Mic. This should be interesting! Hopefully I will take the time tonight to revise a couple of my newer poems so that I can read something fresh. I've gotten into the habit of reading the same poems at every open mic, but I have to break the pattern! Anybody else get stuck in ruts with go-to poems at readings?