Paschimotinasana--Seated Forward Bend

I am rowing my boat
along the quiet river,
ribs open like a magnolia,
its stiff white petals
only this morning furled
in the burnished bud.
Legs strung tight as sails,
I hoist myself up, out of the hip,
arranging my torso, vessel
of precious cargo, over the knees.
Currents lap at my sides
as I surge forward, pulling
the oars of my feet
till the miles fall away.

End of Semester Angst

The proverbial chickens are coming home to roost. Of course, I have never lived on a farm, never spent any time with chickens, didn't even know they strayed away from home during the daytime.
But I DO know about students, and some of mine are hurting. There was a lot of reported illness, some quite serious, in my sections. At least one student had a fairly severe case of swine flu, and was hospitalized for a weekend, throwing up blood. Many were quite ill with other kinds of flu, and could not come to class for over a week.
One of these just returned, not quite well, and unfortunately for him, he did not keep up with the work. Since there is no time left, I gave him two days extra to finish his paper, due Tuesday, but asked that he combine it with the earlier research paper, the definition of the topic, to form the combined definition and causal essay. He did not come to class yesterday, when that combined essay was due for peer review. And he did not email me. I think he has given up.
Since that student had already written the definition paper earlier in the semester, this was merely a matter of typing up the two together. But he didn't try to do it, apparently.
Another student told me, after getting back his failing causal essay (an essay I spent a month and a half preparing them to write), that he didn't understand how to write a causal essay or how to take information from his sources to do that. Meanwhile, he lives nearly next door to me, and could have knocked on my door any number of times to ask for help. He has delivered papers to my door before, and not been shy generally about requested assistance. It is hard at this point to help him.
When this happens, I feel as if I am the one who has slipped up. My heart beats fast, and I relive that anxiety dream where one goes to take an exam without ever having attended the class.

Stuff to Do

I'd like to just stop everything and finish my yoga series, but I have two sets of papers (small, blessedly because not everyone gave me a draft today of the annotated bibliography) and my dad is complaining that he isn't feeling well, so I will have to take him to the doctor tomorrow afternoon if she has time. I guess it's a good thing I resolved the insurance debacle. Just in time... .

resolution?

It seems that the Medical Center WILL accept Blue Cross/Blue Shield as a secondary for medicare patients after all! Thank goodness... or at least that is the present state of information I have.

Uttanasana--Standing Forward Bend

Diving down and down
toward the distant floor,
I approach the knees'
locked gates, peering
into the darkened space
between, almost at my
destination. Grasping
the heels, the ropy
tendons, I belly forward.
Chest presses thighs,
buttocks rising and rising.
I am an explorer,
entering the ancient city,
descending into another world.

PROBLEM

When I returned from work yesterday, it was quite late. I had an armful of papers--two armfuls in fact, and the promise of more papers every class day through the end of the semester. Because I still had my hearing aids on, I heard the insistent beep of the answering machine in the bedroom calling me with its cricket chirp, and dropped everything by the door.
It seems that my parents' secondary insurance, Blue Cross, is no longer being accepted by UCI Medical Center, where the majority of their doctors are. I don't know what to do. I don't think any insurance company will give them a similar deal, given their age and health. We are almost out of money, but not quite. We cannot transition to MediCal, but we cannot move to a different insurance, I think. Changing all our doctors is not a good option. I don't know what to do or who to ask.

The work before me

Until the end of the semester, in two weeks, I will be engaged in a final massive flurry of grading and intensive conferencing with the students in my class. Inevitably, too many have ignored my warnings and left much of their work for the end of the semester, the researching, revision, etc., instead of doing it all along, as I intended, when I gave assignments that would have allowed them to do this. Consequently, a good quarter of the remaining students who could have received very good grades in the class will be just squeaking by, if they manage to pull off the work, that is.
Today and tonight (deadline: midnight) large causal research papers will be coming, and Thursday, annotated bibliographies for the combined research paper. Tuesday are drafts for part one of the final paper; next Thursday, drafts for part two and the works cited page. The following week (Tuesday for one class and Thursday for another) are the revised final papers and presentations. I will be very busy.
I am working on one more poem, but it isn't ready to show yet. After that, 5 more to go. Then I'll have to invent another excuse for writing poems every day, or nearly so.