Prayers up for Roscoe & Lewis Hamilton. 💔 The bond between those two has always made me so happy.

Overheard from a student conversation today: “I don’t know if I should get a tattoo or buy car insurance.” And honestly? Same, kid, same.

At least we can all wake up this morning grateful that we’ve never taken a 99 mph fastball square in the face…well, every one of us except David Fry. Oof. Good vibes to that guy.

I kinda feel like going out & buying a shit-ton of Tylenol right now.

I really need baseball season to go on & on & on to keep granting me daily temporary reprieve from everything else… ❤️ ⚾️ 💙

Happy #Caturday! There are TWO cats in this image. 💜🖤

Small moment of beauty: a student brought me flowers from her family’s garden this week.

Also, some kids were shot at a school in Colorado today…but I guess in this country that’s just business as usual.

Wellllllllp.

Important lesson learned today: DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, STAND IN FRONT OF A FAN WHILE WEARING A WRAP SKIRT. Especially in a classroom full of your teenage students. (Thank god for cute slipshorts)

I just had a long conversation with my (bonus) daughter who’s a college student in Chicago & is terrified to leave her dorm because she’s worried ICE will detain her for having a Spanish last name. This is where we are as a country.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done a #caturday post…so here you go: Violet in all her beauteous glory! 💜 (Note her single white eyebrow whisker…that’s the antenna she uses to keep in touch with her home planet. 😆)

As an immunocompromised person, let me be clear: FUCK YOU, FLORIDA.

When I am telling you the moon was WILD as we walked home from a concert last night…this is what I mean:

Is it just me, or is it weird to have fighter jets flying over our democrat-run city while the fascist wannabe dictator in the Oval Office is using the military to occupy other democrat-run cities? I know some Clevelanders love the air show, but I’m not convinced it’s necessary or in good taste.

I actually talked to my therapist yesterday about how sad I am that baseball season is almost over.

Have I mentioned lately how much I hate the way healthcare is (mis)managed through insurance in this country?

Dammit Taylor, quit starting rumors about me & the gym teachers at my school. I am already happily committed!

She’s been found & is safe. Thank goodness!

Every teacher’s worst nightmare: one of my former students is missing and endangered. If you do anything that resembles praying, please do it for Sarah’s safe return.

Am…am I the only one who thinks this is a terrible idea? 😬 No thank you. Not using any of this.

Teaching feels extra punk rock this year.

My husband was not amused when I said I’d be sleeping with this on my pillow from now on.

Darn right I got to Progressive Field two hours early to get my Tom Hamilton bobblehead…and the line is around the corner!

Man, the soundtrack to Rent still fucks me up.

Football schmootball. It’s baseball season.

Only one more sleep until a woman umpires a regular season MLB game! All the luck & love to Jen Pawol. ⚾️ 💗

It’s International Cat Day, you say, as if we need an excuse to post pictures of our cats? Sure. I’ll fall for it.

It’s currently 76 degrees Fahrenheit outside, but it’s 91.2 in my classroom. Ah, the physics of a very old building. 🥵

Another highly-recommended #SealeyChallenge read. My favorite poem in it is one by Jericho Brown called “Arial View.”

The news from yesterday’s MRI is good. Thanks for the positive vibes, y’all!

MRI day for me. Please send pet pics, jokes, poems, etc. Thank you.

Current #SealeyChallenge read…definitely not rushing through this one. I started it yesterday & don’t plan to finish it until tomorrow.

Ok, that’s it. Cat people, rise up against this fascist regime.

Just gonna drop this 1984 excerpt here…no particular reason…

The first book I read for this year’s #SealeyChallenge was a banger. 🔥

I’m offering up signed copies of my poetry collection The Fallow on a pay-what-you-can basis, just in time for the #SealeyChallenge! I get it—not everybody can afford 31 poetry books, so I want to do my part to make it more accessible. Message me if you’re interested in snatching one up.

The cruelty is the point. I hate it here.

I could have sworn I was working on nine new short poems, but it turns out I’m working on one long poem & three medium-length poems. Funny how revision works.

Do you even live in Cleveland if you’ve never photographed the willow trees at Edgewater Beach?

We don’t talk enough about how important multigenerational friendships are. I’m 44. Do I have dear friends who are in their 60s? Sure do. Do I also have dear friends in their late 20s? Also yes.

So…all of a sudden these world leaders are acknowledging that genocide is bad? After how many people have already died? After how many histories have already been lost forever?

With hat in hand…here is my classroom wishlist for the year. Everything donated will be directly used by students! Thank you if you can make even the smallest contribution. www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/...

Paint me like one of your French girls. #Caturday

Tom Hamilton has been calling Cleveland baseball games since I was in third grade. I can’t imagine summer nights without his voice! Congratulations & endless gratitude to him (AND his family) as he gets inducted into the HOF today. www.cleveland.com/guardians/20...

Details just keep coming & coming for the full duration of that first sentence. Just when you think it couldn’t possibly get any better… *BOOM* …leaving money behind a Chuck E. Cheese happens.

Nope. Nope nope nope.

If prescription drugs actually went down 1000%, that would be amazing. Considering the exorbitant cost of the MS treatment I inject every 4 weeks, that would mean mean somebody’s cutting me a check for about $78,000 four times a year. I’d still hate the guy if he made it happen, though.

I just got out of bed at 12:50 am to draft four new poems in a single hour. This keeps happening. No promises, but to those of you who have been asking since my last book came out what I’m working on next: I can finally say with honesty & confidence that I have something taking shape.

Read a poetry book a day or just a poem a day in August — order some books from @triohousepress.org for the #SealeyChallenge and get free shipping on print titles and 50% off ebooks! Discount is automatic! triohousepress.myshopify.com