As days pass, June’s suddenly waning.
From writing work, I’ve been refraining.
But… annual insight:
The summer is finite.
So, back to a routine, maintaining.
In honor of June 30, this non-Twitter poem depicts my yearly realization of the moment when June disappears. It is useful for me to set some concrete goals for this space, over the next few weeks.
As days pass, June’s suddenly waning.
It was a major accomplishment to reach the end of this academic year, with all of its challenges. The remainder of May then brought many meetings and much paperwork, with discussions of both 2019-20 and 2020-21.
June has thus been, as ever, the month where I’ve scheduled everything “else”: all the errands and appointments that are overdue after the busyness of spring term. It is a relief to know the blocks of time are available, but the days go quickly, and I often find the month is “suddenly waning.” That’s certainly a pronounced feeling at the moment.
From writing work, I’ve been refraining.
The summer term brings miscellaneous academic tasks: research in the lab; faculty book groups; conferences and workshops. So far, time has been short enough that I haven’t been posting here. I have several Twitter poems still to “translate,” from Fall 2020 and NaPoWriMo 2021, but those brief essays fit best in the academic year.
But… annual insight: /
The summer is finite. /
So, back to a routine, maintaining.
It should not be shocking, after so many years in academia, but the shift from “summer-as-the-break-from-the-spring” to “summer-as-the-time-to-prepare-for-the-autumn” still manages to surprise me, each year (“annual insight:/ [t]he summer is finite”).
I’ve found it useful to write regularly here, so I’ll aim to return to “a routine, maintaining.” Each Wednesday, through July, I plan to post an essay drafted during the past few years; I hope that this goal will provide motivation to finish and edit those pieces. (As for August, we’ll see: the shift from July to August brings challenges of its own!)
Chemphasis 