thursday. two words. occasionally three words.

Sleep late. Wake up. Pencil skirt. New gray tights. Keep the glasses. Hide the eyebrows. Salon this weekend. Thank God. Got to hurry. Running late. Drive drive drive. No turn signals. Compliments: red shoes. Red bag. Kindness of strangers. Thank you, thanks. Cold wind. Flip up collar.

First class. Short story. Golf, limes, cigarettes. Max and Leonard. Conflict and character. Dysfunction. Childhood. Secret lives. Freewriting. Coffee too hot. Good discussion. See a hand. Call on it. Yes, ma'am? It's Steven. More coffee. Steven doesn't mind. Good sport.

Hurry hurry. Conferences between classes. Fix this, this. Tenses shift. Have to run. No attention span. Cheep cheep cheep. Flick the lights. Hey. Folks. Quiet. Like wrangling hummingbirds. Classic argument structure. Modified argument structure. Order is important. Consider your audience. Quiet, window girls. Shhhhh. Claims, evidence, support. Okay. You're done. Happy weekend. Stories: lost books. Want to meet. Didn't do anything. Nothing to submit. E-mail to ya?

No. No.

Cranky. Tired. Office smells: noodles. Garlic. Another conference. Another. Squeeze them in. Red pen. Fire off e-mails.

Sigh. Get ready. One more class. Cranky cranky. Crabby walking in. Blue room. Shades drawn. Outside: smokers. Inside: texting. Four o'clock. Time to start. Warming up. Classic argument structure. Modified argument structure. Order is important. Consider your audience. Good question, Karlie. Good question, Hank. Feeling better. Time for debate. Let's argue. Always tip? Yes or no. No fence-sitting. Make claims. Support with evidence. You're up. Talk. You're up. Rebut. Joke: the French. No, just kidding. Love the French. Good cheese. Better wine. Homework. Time management. Six weeks left. No. Five.

Back to office. Long shadows. Not dark yet. Knock knock. Last conference. Okay. Make a list. Academic journal articles. Databases. Write this down. To do: thesis. Write this down. World Health Organization. FDA. Good sources. Unverified Web site. Less-good source. Gardasil. Teenage girls. This could work. What's the issue? What's the background? Okay. Here's the list. The weekend. Do the work. Get it done. You can.

Five weeks. Five weeks. Five weeks.

Drive home. Think scarves. Magenta. Skirts. First flowers. Windows down. But not yet. Not today. Maybe next week. Maybe next month. Home. UPS man. Used books. Old poems. Happy dog. Wants a run. No. Not tonight. Beans and corn. Fashion magazines. Cherry ice cream. Television. National Geographic. Make a list. The weekend. Red pen. Running. Eyebrows. Onion jam. Laundry. Short stories. Annotate bibliographies. Breathe, breathe. Spring. Soon.