Memory lapse--and gain--and lapse

Dashed off to class today and forgot, in my haste, Jason Schneiderman's book. Didn't realize it until I got to class and dug into my bag. No daily poem. Ah, wait: closed my eyes, recited Yeats ("The Song of the Wandering Aengus"). Applause afterward, which was sweet, but really, if I could think of a justification in a comp class, I'd have them each memorize a poem.

Could have gone with Frost, or Bishop's "One Art." And gosh, I think that's all. I used to know so many poem by heart.

I remember Cynthia Macdonald, in her undergrad workshop in Houston, asked us each to memorize a poem. Everyone chose something in form--so much easier--except Nels Highberg, who impressed the shit out of me by reciting (a good part of) Adrienne Rich's "Diving Into the Wreck."

Will read Jason's poem next week. The summer session is halfway through. Then a month off before my crazy busy fall.