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A week away from the normal routines of life is refreshing, even if it comes with other, pressing responsibilities. We have just returned from New Jersey where my son and daughter competed in a regional speech tournament. While there, I spent most of my time either judging rounds…
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Having missed International Haiku Poetry Day, let me leave you with this three haiku sampler from David M. Bader’s book Haiku U: From Aristotle to Zola, 100 Great Books in 17 Syllables as today’s selection for National Poetry Month. As Bader himself notes in his humorous foreword, “Deciding…
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Having not actually written anything new recently, a quiet hour to write (or blackout) tonight was a gift. Flipping through the same book that I have been using for nearly six years, I gratefully unearthed the following poem just in time for Resurrection Day, known to many as…
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If you’ve followed my blog for the past two years, you will be familiar with Wendell Berry. His Mad Farmer poems have brought such life to my soul (these two years especially). So it’s somewhat surprising that I haven’t posted one of his poems until today during National…
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Originally posted on Malcolm Guite: image courtesy of Lancia Smith We come now, on Palm Sunday, to the beginning of Holy Week: a strange Palm Sunday, a strange Holy Week, in which we cannot make the outward and visible journeys and gestures, exchanges and gatherings that have always…
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About a year ago, I shared a sample of blackout poetry: essentially a found poem drawn from an already published text. In my case, I have been crafting my poems from a discarded book I picked up at our school library. I have titled that collection Odd Things,…
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Tonight I share the fusion of photography and poetry, of India, Japan, England, and America: a Japanese tanka dedicated to William Carlos Williams (the pediatrician) and William Wordsworth (the romantic) inspired by a photograph by Divyakant Solanki. I am sure both Williamses would see in this everyday image…
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Oh, the joy of Gerard Manley Hopkins! I wish I could capture the beauty of nature in the rich imagery and luscious syntax of this master. As much as I love “Pied Beauty” and “God’s Grandeur,” this poem resonates the loudest with me. In a time when so…
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As a freshman in college, I found the poetry of Federico García Lorca inspiring (be sure to follow the hyperlink to read some of García Lorca’s work). I remember trying to imitate the style of the famed Spanish poet, without any real success. However, one of the poems…
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Sunday night. The eve before Monday morning always leaves me wanting more weekend. And yet room 209 awaits and tomorrow the bell will ring at 8:04 a.m. and I will continue unpacking e. e. cummings’ poem “in Just-” with my AP English Literature students. Rather than post the…
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the deepening ground 