Stuff
Documents & Downloads
#Whiteboardgraffiti
Test
Analysis
Arbitrary List of Things Anathema to Good Essays
Class
9
11
AP
Creative Writing
Podcasting
Podcasts
CoralCast
Quite Excellent
Blog
Library
Library
Student Recommendations
Me
About Me
Prose
Poetry
Good Humans
My Digest

Mr. Lydon - A Teacher

Stuff
Documents & Downloads
#Whiteboardgraffiti
Test
Analysis
Arbitrary List of Things Anathema to Good Essays
Class
9
11
AP
Creative Writing
Podcasting
Podcasts
CoralCast
Quite Excellent
Blog
Library
Library
Student Recommendations
Me
About Me
Prose
Poetry
Good Humans
My Digest
April 7, 2025
Wes Lydon
"In a Grain of Sand" - Jesús Papoleto Meléndez

We are Starseeds  
                   every one of us –  
                                                     you & me,

"In a Grain of Sand" -  Jesús Papoleto Meléndez
January 13, 2025
Wes Lydon
"Driving Upstate with My Father" - C.L. O'Dell

at the end of a bad year. Trees begin
to outnumber houses. Rain turns to snow
as fields hang like paintings.

"Driving Upstate with My Father" -  C.L. O'Dell
October 21, 2024
Wes Lydon
"That Part in the Music" - Carl Phillips

Once loyal to a cruel master,
the dog moves like a man who
not so long ago weighed a lot less

"That Part in the Music" -  Carl Phillips
September 16, 2024
Wes Lydon
"Why I Respect the Dog" - Catherine Pierce

The dog weighs twelve pounds
and uses them as she pleases.
The king-size bed is not big enough.

"Why I Respect the Dog" -  Catherine Pierce
August 20, 2024
Wes Lydon
"The Orange" - Wendy Cope

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange—
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave—

"The Orange" -  Wendy Cope
Wes Lydon
April 7, 2025

"In a Grain of Sand" - Jesús Papoleto Meléndez

Wes Lydon
April 7, 2025
"In a Grain of Sand" -  Jesús Papoleto Meléndez

We are Starseeds  
                   every one of us –  
                                                     you & me,

Tagged: Poetry, Poets.org, Jesús Papoleto Meléndez

Comment
Wes Lydon
January 13, 2025

"Driving Upstate with My Father" - C.L. O'Dell

Wes Lydon
January 13, 2025
"Driving Upstate with My Father" -  C.L. O'Dell

at the end of a bad year. Trees begin
to outnumber houses. Rain turns to snow
as fields hang like paintings.

Tagged: Poetry, C.L. O'Dell, The Sun

Comment
Wes Lydon
October 21, 2024

"That Part in the Music" - Carl Phillips

Wes Lydon
October 21, 2024
"That Part in the Music" -  Carl Phillips

Once loyal to a cruel master,
the dog moves like a man who
not so long ago weighed a lot less

Tagged: Poetry, Carl Phillips, Poets.org

Comment
Wes Lydon
September 16, 2024

"Why I Respect the Dog" - Catherine Pierce

Wes Lydon
September 16, 2024
"Why I Respect the Dog" -  Catherine Pierce

The dog weighs twelve pounds
and uses them as she pleases.
The king-size bed is not big enough.

Tagged: Poetry, Catherine Pierce, The Sun

Comment
Wes Lydon
August 20, 2024

"The Orange" - Wendy Cope

Wes Lydon
August 20, 2024
"The Orange" -  Wendy Cope

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange—
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave—

Tagged: Poetry, Wendy Cope

Comment
Wes Lydon
April 8, 2024

"Message To a Former Friend" - Tony Hoagland

Wes Lydon
April 8, 2024
"Message To a Former Friend" -  Tony Hoagland

I just wanted to write and say,
in case you are hit tomorrow by a truck

or are swept from the beach by a freak wave;

Tagged: Poetry, Tony Hoagland, The Sun

Comment
Wes Lydon
February 28, 2024

"Mother Talks Back to the Monster" - Carrie Shipers

Wes Lydon
February 28, 2024
"Mother Talks Back to the Monster" -  Carrie Shipers

Tonight, I dressed my son in astronaut pajamas,
kissed his forehead and tucked him in. 
I turned on his night-light and looked for you

Tagged: Poetry, Carrie Shipers, North American Review

Comment
Wes Lydon
January 22, 2024

"What I Didn't Know Before" - Ada Limón

Wes Lydon
January 22, 2024
"What I Didn't Know Before" -  Ada Limón

was how horses simply give birth to other
horses. Not a baby by any means, not
a creature of liminal spaces, but a four-legged

Tagged: Poetry, Ada Limón, The Carrying

Comment
Wes Lydon
November 6, 2023

"Young Poets" - Nicanor Parra

Wes Lydon
November 6, 2023
"Young Poets" - Nicanor Parra

Write as you will
in whatever style you like
too much blood has run under the bridge

Tagged: Poetry, Nicanor Parra, Miller Williams, Translated, Poems and Antipoems

Comment
Wes Lydon
October 9, 2023

"the name before the name before mine" - Jay Besemer

Wes Lydon
October 9, 2023
"the name before the name before mine" - Jay Besemer

the unknown has hold of me and its grip is strong as honey on the underside of a spoon

the unknown i mean is not the usual one the future the tomorrow of survival

but the past and what happened in the name of the name after mine and in the name of the name before mine

Tagged: Poetry, Jay Besemer, PoetryNOW, Poetry Foundation

Comment
Wes Lydon
September 11, 2023

"Letter to the Person Who Carved Their Initials..." - Matthew Olzmann

Wes Lydon
September 11, 2023
"Letter to the Person Who Carved Their Initials..." - Matthew Olzmann

Letter to the Person Who Carved His Initials into the Oldest Living Longleaf Pine in North America

by Matthew Olzmann

Tell me what it’s like to live without
curiosity, without awe. To sail
on clear water, rolling your eyes

Tagged: Poetry, Matthew Olzmann, Tin House

Comment
Wes Lydon
August 21, 2023

"Good Dog" - Tony Hoagland

Wes Lydon
August 21, 2023
"Good Dog" - Tony Hoagland

Good Dog
By Steven Duong

is what I say to my
fish when I pet her.

A dog is anything small

Tagged: Poetry, Tony Hoagland, Poetry Foundation, Application for Release of the Dream

Comment
Wes Lydon
April 24, 2023

"Special Problems in Vocabulary" - Tony Hoagland

Wes Lydon
April 24, 2023
"Special Problems in Vocabulary" - Tony Hoagland

Special Problems in Vocabulary
By Tony Hoagland

There is no single particular noun
for the way a friendship,
stretched over time, grows thin,

Tagged: Poetry, Tony Hoagland, Poetry Foundation, Application for Release of the Dream

Comment
Wes Lydon
February 27, 2023

"The Bats" - Mark Wunderlich

Wes Lydon
February 27, 2023
"The Bats" - Mark Wunderlich

The Bats
By Mark Wunderlich

I share my house with a colony of bats.
They live in the roof peak,
enter through a gap.

Tagged: Poetry, The New Yorker, Mark Wunderlich, God of Nothingness: Poems

1 Comment
Wes Lydon
January 30, 2023

"Whisk" - Anna Scotti

Wes Lydon
January 30, 2023
"Whisk" - Anna Scotti

I told my grandmother I am afraid and she made that little wave, each plump finger brushing away my worries just the way she’d brush crumbs from around the toaster tray, the way she’d sweep the dog’s dry tracks from the trailer floor.

Tagged: Poetry, The New Yorker, Anna Scotti

2 Comments
Wes Lydon
January 9, 2023

"Boy" - Annelyse Gelman

Wes Lydon
January 9, 2023
"Boy" - Annelyse Gelman

He found himself kneeling in mud
And asked the river for forgiveness.
The river punished him with silence.

Tagged: Poetry, Annelyse Gelman, The New Yorker

Comment
Wes Lydon
December 19, 2022

"The birthday of the world" - Margie Piercy

Wes Lydon
December 19, 2022
"The birthday of the world" - Margie Piercy

On the birthday of the world
I begin to contemplate
what I have done and left

Tagged: Poetry, Margie Piercy, The Crooked Inheritance

Comment
Wes Lydon
November 14, 2022

"Letter" - Tadeusz Dąbrowski

Wes Lydon
November 14, 2022
"Letter" - Tadeusz Dąbrowski

Yesterday I sent you a letter. And today on the phone
you tell me you are pregnant. I pack up and return,
you greet me at the airport, you’re even lovelier than

Tagged: Poetry, Tadeusz Dąbrowski, The New Yorker

Comment
Wes Lydon
October 17, 2022

"The Good Life" - Tracy K. Smith

Wes Lydon
October 17, 2022
"The Good Life" - Tracy K. Smith

When some people talk about money
They speak as if it were a mysterious lover
Who went out to buy milk and never

Tagged: Poetry, Tracy K. Smith, Life on Mars

Comment
Wes Lydon
September 19, 2022

"Before" - Ada Limón

Wes Lydon
September 19, 2022
"Before" - Ada Limón

No shoes and a glossy
red helmet, I rode
on the back of my dad’s

Tagged: Poetry, Ada Limón, Bright Dead Things

Comment
Older Posts
Featured
"In a Grain of Sand" -  Jesús Papoleto Meléndez
Apr 7, 2025
Poetry, Poets.org, Jesús Papoleto Meléndez
"In a Grain of Sand" - Jesús Papoleto Meléndez
Apr 7, 2025
Poetry, Poets.org, Jesús Papoleto Meléndez

We are Starseeds  
                   every one of us –  
                                                     you & me,

Apr 7, 2025
Poetry, Poets.org, Jesús Papoleto Meléndez
"Driving Upstate with My Father" -  C.L. O'Dell
Jan 13, 2025
Poetry, C.L. O'Dell, The Sun
"Driving Upstate with My Father" - C.L. O'Dell
Jan 13, 2025
Poetry, C.L. O'Dell, The Sun

at the end of a bad year. Trees begin
to outnumber houses. Rain turns to snow
as fields hang like paintings.

Jan 13, 2025
Poetry, C.L. O'Dell, The Sun
"That Part in the Music" -  Carl Phillips
Oct 21, 2024
Poetry, Carl Phillips, Poets.org
"That Part in the Music" - Carl Phillips
Oct 21, 2024
Poetry, Carl Phillips, Poets.org

Once loyal to a cruel master,
the dog moves like a man who
not so long ago weighed a lot less

Oct 21, 2024
Poetry, Carl Phillips, Poets.org
"Why I Respect the Dog" -  Catherine Pierce
Sep 16, 2024
Poetry, Catherine Pierce, The Sun
"Why I Respect the Dog" - Catherine Pierce
Sep 16, 2024
Poetry, Catherine Pierce, The Sun

The dog weighs twelve pounds
and uses them as she pleases.
The king-size bed is not big enough.

Sep 16, 2024
Poetry, Catherine Pierce, The Sun
"The Orange" -  Wendy Cope
Aug 20, 2024
Poetry, Wendy Cope
"The Orange" - Wendy Cope
Aug 20, 2024
Poetry, Wendy Cope

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange—
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave—

Aug 20, 2024
Poetry, Wendy Cope
Back to Top
AP Lit Calendar
9th Grade Calendar
Creative Writing Calendar

"no story is so unseemly as to prevent anyone from telling it, provided it is told in seemly language" 

- Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron