It’s kind of amazing that Richard Wilbur is 96 years old. (A collection of his poems furnishes me with this post’s title.) Just before the AP, my students and I read his 1949 poem “Juggler,” which was the subject of last year’s AP Lit exam’s poetry analysis essay. I don’t have anything to say about it except that we were all struck by how weary it sounds for having been written by a 28-year-old man. (Not that a 28-year-old man can’t or shouldn’t feel weary, in 1949 or at any other time.)
I’m creeping back to the blog today because I feel the need of it, need to get my mind around this time of year again. I was out of town for some of the holiday weekend, returned Sunday night, haven’t done much today, Memorial Day, except some grocery shopping and putting in an appearance at a cousin’s graduation party. There’s a lot to do, schoolwise and lifewise, but there’s also a sense of loosening–the regular schedules are dissolving, with a couple of special days for review before exams begin, and then exams, and the last rushed day of farewells, one strange weekday without any school, and then graduation. A final day of meetings, and then we’re launched into summer, except for the long tail of the school year.
Maybe now is the time for one of those summer charts? I have been feeling a bit stuck on what I need to do now, but maybe some looking forward will help me unstick?
Literature Should Mean Something in Your Life 
Posted by Pym Fan on June 2, 2017 at 3:57 am
I think I need one of those charts myself. Have been feeling especially unfocused and inefficient lately… I fell behind in your blog and have only just now read about your job application. Interesting! When might you hear back about that?
Posted by Pym Fan on June 2, 2017 at 3:58 am
Also: Richard Wilbur is 96?!!
Posted by What Now? on June 7, 2017 at 12:39 am
I used one of your charts for the last three weeks of school because I was so directionless that I didn’t see how I was going to make it through to the end and get everything necessary done and keep my head about me. It did it’s work, even though I abandoned it at about the halfway point.