#411: Of Models and Mentors

Right before Thanksgiving I went to see my friend Alise read from her new poetry collection, What to Count. It was a salon-style event, with the theme of “mentoring,” and while I don’t remember this being part of the reading it’s in Alise’s book, from a poem called “Back to School”:

I went back to feel the pressure
spinning in circles, arms at sides, then
flat on the grass, book bag on chest
clouds beyond a wooden frame,
the worry, a structure held firmly in place.

Shane, one of the hosts, also added ...