Definitely Beautiful

Taylor Mali's Poetry Blog
 

In my quest to convince 1,000 people to become teachers, I just passed the 900 mark. Help me with the final 100!

Quest

I am packing tonight for a two-week residency at The Iolani School in Hawaii, a gig I've had on the books for 18 months. But I just approved a dozen teachers on my list of people whom I have indirectly helped decide to enter the field of education, a goal that I have had since I said goodbye to my last sixth grade homeroom class in June of 2000. Strange to think those 13-year-olds are now 25! I need to get to bed because my car is picking me up tomorrow at 6:30 AM to begin my long day of travel, but I just want to mention three things:

1. I still need 100 more people to sign up on my list before Saturday, April 7, 2012, which is the day i will cut my hair at the Bowery Poetry Club and donate it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. Please send anyone you think could legitimately claim my work helped them become a teacher to http://www.taylormali.com/teachers/What_About_You.php to sign up.

2. Watch this video I made earlier this week: 

3. As I head off to Hawaii, I can't help but think of Billy Collins, who also once taught at the same school, during the same residency. Someone did once say I was "just like Billy Collins, except even worse." Was that a compliment? Or an insult? Or both?

Metaphorically yours,

Taylor

Posted January 20, 2012
 

Can any "Font Nerds" tell me what don't this is?

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Metaphorically yours,

Taylor

P.S. Sent from the road so forgive odd spellings & apparent curtness.

Posted January 11, 2012
 

Just found out my YouTube channel has surpassed 4 million hits!

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Although I don't really follow hit counts closely, it would be a lie to say I didn't care. But the only one I've ever really paid close attention to is "What Teachers Make," which wasn't even posted by me. That's the poem that first passed one million views on YouTube, which people kept saying was an incredible achievement. That particular video, posted by someone named JackLeftTown five years ago, is now almost to 3.5 million views. But it was just brought to my attention by my publisher, Write Bloody, that my own channel (which, granted, includes many videos of other poets reading in the Page Meets Stage series I curate with @meMali) has just passed four million views. 

How can I harness this momentum to get the final 100+ teachers I need to sign up on my list on new teachers before April 7th, 2012, the day I have scheduled for my haircut?

Posted January 7, 2012
 

Who wants a TOUGH TEACHER temporary tattoo? Send me an SASE!

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The promotional tattoos for my new book have arrived, and they are AWESOME! Want some? Send me a self-addressed stamped envelope and I'll fill it with as many tattoos as I can. Let your students and the WORLD know that you are a TOUGH TEACHER and TEACHER TOUGH!

Taylor Mali
TOUGH TEACHER TATTOOS
P. O. Box 1286
New York, NY 10276-1286

Posted December 17, 2011
 

Now this is a tragedy!

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I could have still loved you! Though you lacked a few letter and were coming apart at the middle. I bet you had bingos in you yet.

Posted December 17, 2011
 

"The Quiet World," one of my favorite poems of all time, by Jeffrey McDaniel, who will be at the Bowery Poetry Club next Wednesday, 12/21!

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Jeff will be reading opposite Amber Tamblyn (yes, Joan of Arcadia is also a published poet) as part of Page Meets Stage at the Bowery Poetry Club next Wednesday, 12/21/11, at 8 pm. If you live near New York City, perhaps i will see you there.

Posted December 15, 2011
 

If you speak Spanish, help me correct the poem I just wrote for homework! Might as well use this flat earth!

Soy Antigua

Cuando estoy en Antigua, yo soy Antigua, la ciudad el mismo.

En la madrugada, fui la floración de los petardos,

y los ladridos de los perros. Fui la sonida de la abuela

barriendo la acera. Cuando sale el sol,

soy la paredes de colores brillantes de esta ciudad colonial,

el naranja de las zanahorias, el amarillo de los plátanos, 

el ocre exquisito de la tierra.

Yo soy las calles adoquinadas, rotas y ásperas, las banderolas rojas

en los bordes de los agujeros, los bocinazos del tráfico.

En la tarde, yo voy a serlos vendedores ambulantes del campo,

y el volcán con la cabeza in las nubes.

Y cuando el dia se cae, cuando en el otro lado del cielo crepuscular,

la noche se eleva para tomar su propio lugar en el atardecer,

entonces sería la luna.

I am Antigua

When I am in Antigua, I am Antigua, the city itself.

In the early morning, I was the blooming of the firecrackers

and the barking of the dogs. I was the sound of the grandmother's

broom sweeping the sidewalks at dawn. When the sun is risen,

I am the brightly colored walls in this colonial town,

the orange of carrots, the yellow of plantains,

and the exquisite ochre of the earth.

I am the cobblestone streets, broken and rough, the red flags

at the edge of the holes, the honking horns of the traffic.

In the afternoon, I am going to be the peddlers on the street

and the volcano with my head in the clouds.

And when day has fallen, when, on the other side of the twilit sky,

night has risen to take its proper place in evening,

then I will be the moon.

Posted December 12, 2011
 

The volcano is visible today

Greetings from Antigua where I have come to study Spanish for the week. This is my view on my walk to school. I am staying with a nice family not far from the center of town along with three girls in their mid 20s from Denmark, Switzerland, and Germany. I'm thinking of writing a poem called "I Never Thought These Letters Were True."

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Posted December 12, 2011