Archives for The Education of Oronte Churm

Too long, but what the hell.

I have seen a fer-de-lance waiting beside the path, waiting to be woken by footsteps; I would not have seen it if the guide hadn’t held me back and pointed it out, and then he cut a forked branch, drove it down across the snake’s spine, asked me to find another, thicker, shorter branch, used that other branch to crush the snake’s head, picked the snake up, and the clear brown venom dripped from the broken fangs into the palm of my hand.

Roy Kesey, at 9:45 pm EST on February 9, 2007

“I have seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I have watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.” —Blade Runner

GR, at 4:00 pm EST on February 10, 2007

I have stood in front of a class, leaning away from ephatically extended reading glasses, bewildered as a balding sexagenarian shrieked, “We librarians resent it, *resent it,* when you reaarange the chairs!”

ms lynch, at 1:15 pm EST on February 12, 2007

I have seen him walk down the sidewalk, city street, faster past the boys who spit once, at his feet, as he goes by.

Chaz, A true sentence, at 4:35 pm EST on February 12, 2007

I have watched an impossibly skinny man push an empty rust-red wheel barrow, flat tire fighting hard dirt, down an unpaved side street. His ragged shirt read “eat more” and the irony was too obscene for comment. We simply drove by, white faces pressed against a bus window, trying to be tourists, to forget we’d be Sailors tomorrow. Drinking seemed to help.

Jacob, Sailor at United States Navy, at 5:46 am EST on February 13, 2007

I have stood in front of 24 16-year olds to explain a villanelle. I read Dylan Thomas’s Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night and shared with them the personal experience of my own mother’s death so they could understand the moment that Thomas was describing. I was on the verge of tears from revisiting the memories it stirred within me. The only question I inspired was ” Can I go to the bathroom?”

Dale, true sentences, at 12:45 pm EST on February 13, 2007

I have heard a child cry through the night like a blackbird in the morn.

I have stolen a ceramic penguin from the neighbor’s porch for no good reason.

I have stood barefoot on the tree-lawn, quarters in hand, waiting for the approaching sound of a distant melody.

I have ridden a laundry basket down the stairs to my cellar while my mother folded clothes and my father cursed knotted wood.

I have driven 800 miles in darkness to find a woman that no longer saw the same world I did, for the world I saw was the world I knew, while hers was one of lore.

Nicholas Adams, at 10:51 am EST on February 14, 2007

I have gone to see the recruiters several times and am always excited about the possibilities I am qualified for but too afraid to commit to.

Noah, at 8:46 pm EST on February 14, 2007

Adjunting

Everything that deceives may be said to enchant.Plato

Alex deJesus, at 9:46 am EST on February 27, 2007

love and theft

If you don’t mind, I’d like to know what things the Santa Monica girl stole from you. I have this theory that if we can list all of the things love (or the pursuit of it) has cost us in items taken we will know better the sum of our worth.

Rory, at 11:15 am EST on February 20, 2007

My childhood teddy bear that my mother forced me to take when I moved out of her house. I remember sleeping in my childhood race-car bed with this ridiculous looking thing, like a koala bear covered in lamb’s wool that had a nose like a pig’s snout. This oddly shapen play-thing somehow ended up in permanent residency amid a pile of other various plush toy animals at my ex-girlfriend’s house.

A book about SQL that is sitting next to this same ex-girlfriend’s computer. Of course, I’ve justified its loss by thinking that at least she will learn something from it. However I’m quite sure that this is a Sisyphean dream.

JDavid, at 11:56 am EST on February 21, 2007

Very funny, Mr. Letterman

Even funnier that I bought that ‘87 Datsun of yours from your ex-girlfriend, and Grandma’s missing pearls were under the driver’s seat, where you evidently lost them. Thanks for that.

My question is, why has this area become the he-man woman-haters club? Let’s hear from some women about the things they’ve lost in the pursuit of love, which was Rory’s original question.

Oronte, at 10:48 am EST on February 22, 2007

Just think. If that former lover of yours (not the Hedgehog, but the Santa Monica woman) hadn’t taken your things (and who’s to say you didn’t deserve it? maybe she has a blog somewhere) and you still had the leather jacket on and the dog-eared Wallace Stevens there in front of you at the bistro table, not to mention $200 in travelers checks artfully (dare i say jauntily?) sticking out of your J Peterman shirt pocket, man you’d be scary. Here’s hoping Mrs Churm uses a short leash.

Rory, at 11:06 am EST on February 22, 2007

You shouldn’t charge anybody anything. Free to all, you know? That way, when Oprah finds out about you, she’ll give you wicked awesome gifts like a pony and a wagon. And you’ll meet OPRAH!

noah, at 8:21 pm EST on February 22, 2007

HI, your blog is helping me do some reflective writing. I am doing a Grad Cert in Tertiary Teaching and Learning but am not a teacher so need to find sources of styles. I really enjoy your writing. Do you find there are many of the pouty students who don’t want to work at anything but their goal, despite being woeful? We also have students that are unaware of how poorly they write or speak but I think the system used in our schools of praising mediocre or even poor work is to blame. Many students state that they were surprised with the final marks they received for secondary education. How come students do not know how they are doing compared with the rest of the class?

Whatever happened to aspiring to produce excellence?

Rhyl

Rhyl, at 7:51 pm EST on March 5, 2007

Love

Yes, Churm can write. He’s at his best, I think, when he’s writing about love. (You should read his “Villanelles in the Shape of a Hummingbird’s Heart.") Mrs. Churm, you’re a lucky woman. And a smart one to have taken him up on his Miami offer.

Rory, at 2:06 pm EST on March 7, 2007