Poet in residence has got to be the easiest gig in the world. The teacher does the classroom management. The kid with his head on the table, the kid giggling uncontrollably, the kid who can't follow the clean up instructions. . .not my problem. I just have to take them by the hand and walk into Van Gogh's Starry Night.

I'm doing a special unit with the art teacher at Rose's school on ekphrastic poetry. That's just a fancy way of saying poetry about art. Lesson one was on seeing the unseen. There's not really a hand in in Starry Night, but when I look with my poet's eye, I see the sky grabbing the stars, trying to pull them away. Everyone has an imagination. I'm just giving them permission to delve into theirs. I love to show them how magical and powerful they are.