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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 27, 2020

Quite Excellent Episode 023 - Occasional Poem

Wes Lydon
April 27, 2020
Quite Excellent Episode 023 - Occasional Poem

Ms. Marcus says that an occasional poem is a poem
written about something
important

Tagged: Poetry, Education, Jacqueline Woodson, A Poem for Every Day of the Year

Comment
Wes Lydon
April 20, 2020

Quite Excellent Episode 022 - Ars Poetica

Wes Lydon
April 20, 2020
Quite Excellent Episode 022 - Ars Poetica

Old Day, gold day,
where did you go?

Tagged: Poetry, Education, Archibald MacLeish, Chief Modern Poets of Britain and America

Comment
Wes Lydon
April 13, 2020

Quite Excellent Episode 021 - Days

Wes Lydon
April 13, 2020
Quite Excellent Episode 021 - Days

Old Day, gold day,
where did you go?

Tagged: Poetry, Education, A Poem for Every Day of the Year, Tony Mitton

Comment
Wes Lydon
April 6, 2020

Quite Excellent Episode 020 - On Turning Ten

Wes Lydon
April 6, 2020
Quite Excellent Episode 020 - On Turning Ten

The whole idea of it makes me feel
like I'm coming down with something,
something worse than any stomach ache

Tagged: Poetry, Education, A Treasury of Poems, Mary Carolyn Davies

Comment
Wes Lydon
March 30, 2020

Quite Excellent Episode 019 - If I Had Known

Wes Lydon
March 30, 2020
Quite Excellent Episode 019 - If I Had Known

If I had known what trouble you were bearing;
What griefs were in the silence of your face;
I would have been more gentle, and more caring,

Tagged: Poetry, Education, A Treasury of Poems, Mary Carolyn Davies

1 Comment
Wes Lydon
September 28, 2018

Quite Excellent Episode 018 - Autumn

Wes Lydon
September 28, 2018
Quite Excellent Episode 018 - Autumn

The autumn comes, a maiden fair
In slenderness and grace,
With nodding rice-stems in her hair

Tagged: Poetry, Education, An Anthology of World Poetry, Kalidasa

3 Comments
Wes Lydon
September 14, 2018

Quite Excellent Episode 017 - Did I Miss Anything?

Wes Lydon
September 14, 2018
Quite Excellent Episode 017 - Did I Miss Anything?

Nothing. When we realized you weren’t here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours

Tagged: Poetry, Poetry 180, Education

Comment
Wes Lydon
September 6, 2018

Quite Excellent Episode 016 - Does Marge Have Friends?

Wes Lydon
September 6, 2018
Quite Excellent Episode 016 - Does Marge Have Friends?

Who are Marge’s friends? Is Helen Lovejoy a friend? Sarah Wiggum? Agnes Skinner?

Tagged: Poetry, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Social Media, Pop Culture

Comment
Wes Lydon
April 19, 2018

Quite Excellent Episode 015 - We Wear the Mask

Wes Lydon
April 19, 2018
Quite Excellent Episode 015 - We Wear the Mask

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;

Tagged: Poetry, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Americans' Favorite Poems

1 Comment
Wes Lydon
February 16, 2018

Quite Excellent Episode 014 - A Good Dog

Wes Lydon
February 16, 2018
Quite Excellent Episode 014 - A Good Dog

Tail-wagging and leash-pulling as
we lead her into her new home, let loose
she runs from the front door, runs fast

Tagged: Lydon, Poetry

1 Comment
Wes Lydon
February 10, 2018

Quite Excellent Episode 013 - The Wounded Cupid

Wes Lydon
February 10, 2018
Quite Excellent Episode 013 - The Wounded Cupid

Cupid as he lay among
Roses, by a Bee was stung. 
Whereupon in anger flying

Tagged: Lydon, Poetry, Anacreon, An Anthology of World Poetry

Comment
Wes Lydon
February 2, 2018

Quite Excellent Episode 012 - Cape Cod Pantoum

Wes Lydon
February 2, 2018
Quite Excellent Episode 012 - Cape Cod Pantoum

Tonight you’re loaning Billy your car, a brand-new
seal-gray Volkswagen Passat with four doors,
though last week at 3 a.m., he stole your canoe,

Tagged: Lydon, Poetry, The New Yorker, Maria Nazos

Comment
Wes Lydon
November 17, 2017

Quite Excellent Episode 011 - Scavengers

Wes Lydon
November 17, 2017
Quite Excellent Episode 011 - Scavengers

                             Your body wakes
into its quiet rattle.
                                         Ropes & ropes . . .

Tagged: Lydon, Poetry, Ocean Vuong, The New Yorker

Comment
Wes Lydon
November 10, 2017

Quite Excellent Episode 010 - Leisure (And Bonus Poem: On My Daughter's Twentieth Minute...)

Wes Lydon
November 10, 2017
Quite Excellent Episode 010 - Leisure (And Bonus Poem: On My Daughter's Twentieth Minute...)

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
 

Tagged: Lydon, Henry William Davies, A Treasury of Poems, Poetry

Comment
Wes Lydon
October 20, 2017

Quite Excellent Episode 009 - Death

Wes Lydon
October 20, 2017
Quite Excellent Episode 009 - Death

Once he will miss, twice he will miss,
He only chooses one of many hours;
For him nor deep nor hill there is,

Tagged: Poetry, An Anthology of World Poetry

Comment
Wes Lydon
October 13, 2017

Quite Excellent Episode 008 - Alzheimer's

Wes Lydon
October 13, 2017
Quite Excellent Episode 008 - Alzheimer's

Chairs move by themselves, and books.
Grandchildren visit, stand
new and nameless, their faces’ puzzles

Tagged: Poetry, Poetry 180, Bob Hicok

Comment
Wes Lydon
September 22, 2017

Quite Excellent Episode 007 - Rain

Wes Lydon
September 22, 2017
Quite Excellent Episode 007 - Rain

Each storm-soaked flower has a beautiful eye.
And this is the voice of the stone-cold sky:
“Only boys keep their cheeks dry.
 

Tagged: Poetry, Vachel Lindsey

Comment
Wes Lydon
September 15, 2017

Quite Excellent Episode 006 - It's Raining In Love

Wes Lydon
September 15, 2017
Quite Excellent Episode 006 - It's Raining In Love

I don’t know what it is,
but I distrust myself
when I start to like a girl

Tagged: Poetry, Poetry 180, Richard Brautigan

Comment
Wes Lydon
September 8, 2017

Quite Excellent Episode 005 - What the Spider Heard

Wes Lydon
September 8, 2017
Quite Excellent Episode 005 - What the Spider Heard

Will there be time for eggnogs and eclogues
In the place where we’re going? 
Said the spider to the fly. 

Tagged: Poetry, Weldon Kees

Comment
Wes Lydon
September 1, 2017

Quite Excellent Episode 004 - The Infinite

Wes Lydon
September 1, 2017
Quite Excellent Episode 004 - The Infinite

The infinite yawns and keeps yawning.
Is it sleepy?
Does it miss Pythagoras?

Tagged: Charles Simic, The New Yorker, Poetry

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

- Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron