Tiff4Tat

“I stand in ruins behind you / with your winter clothes, your broken sandal straps. / I love to see you naked over there / especially from the back.” So sings Leonard Cohen in “Take This Longing,” and so the 2017 Poetry Marathon kicked off.  Since 2009 (less one summer when funding disappeared), I have had the great fortune to spend my summers working with teachers through the Wyoming Writing Project (WWP). This morning, I sip coffee from my WWP mug – a gift from last year’s leaders. It’s a cup I only drink from on special occasions.   The Poetry Marathon is special. ·        The goal: Write one poem every 24 hours. ·        The reward: In one day, I will have a chapbook worth of poems. This was daunting (I posted my first poem at 7:59 a.m. with one minute to spare). It was engaging (I used the prompts they posted for guidance). It was cathartic (I let the words and ideas and dreams spill onto the...

Mickelson Trail Run, Deadwood, S.D. I remember running the Moab Half Marathon in Utah a few years ago. When I came into the last mile, I repeatedly thought, “I can do this. I have trained for this. I have completed 12.1 miles already. One mile is nothing. I know how to finish. I’ve done this before.” With a half mile remaining, I saw my family. They were cheering me on, and my sons wanted to run with me. I waved them toward me, and we finished the race together. Today on my run, as I came into the last mile, I was having similar recurring thoughts: “I can do this. I am in training for this. One mile is nothing. I know how to finish. I’ve done this before.”  In that Moab race, I never asked for my boys to finish the race with me, but they did.  It was simple.  They were just there, running with me. It felt good. It gave me confidence, and it refocused my thinking. It took my mind off the aches and placed it where it needed to be, on finishing stro...

Ben and Charlie Blackmon (Rockies All-Star, 2014). Coors Field, 2013. I am a huge baseball fan. Living within 90 miles of a Major League Baseball team has helped nurture this love. Going to a stadium fills me with nostalgia and a sense of being right where I am supposed to be. Watching a game on television gives me a different perspective, one I do not get watching the game live. I get to hear the background stories and the comparative statistics. I get to re-watch close plays and know instantly if someone is hurt or what records that person might be approaching or breaking. One of the most admirable elements of a professional baseball player is his drive to always be better. A 162-game schedule every year provides multiple opportunities for improvement. Professional baseball players are the best of the best. They have proven themselves at every level of the game, consistently performing in many different areas. Baseball players have to achieve and maintain a respectable b...