“What will your verse be?” Mr. Keating, Dead Poets Society When I officially introduced my students to free verse last week, I knew that Walt Whitman would be on the menu. In my search for a shorter example, I came across the poem I first heard under the wise tutelage of Mr. Keating from DeadContinue reading “The Powerful Play Goes On”
Author Archives: thedeepened
An Ending and a Beginning
January 1st has historically been a time for reevaluating one’s life and planning for the future with greater purpose and resolution. It’s that bridge suspended between years (although it begins the new year), linking the past and the future in a fleeting present. For me, it has become a reminder of loss and the fragilityContinue reading “An Ending and a Beginning”
Don’t Miss the Divine Intrusions
Last week I willingly missed a moment. I neglected the divine intrusion for a bowl of gruel (not literally – just a bowl of Panda Puffs cereal) before heading up to my bedroom to teach English all day. I slept in, forgetting that I would have to dig out from the snow – most importantly,Continue reading “Don’t Miss the Divine Intrusions”
Make Some Time for Tea
A few years ago, my wife, children and I put together a family Christmas album as a gift to our families, complete with original songs, popular covers, and literature readings by my daughter and young sons. Heavily inspired my musicians such as Branches out of California, Sleeping at Last, and The Muppets Christmas with JohnContinue reading “Make Some Time for Tea”
Time to Hear the Christmas Bells
On our most recent shopping excursion, my wife shared with me that classic Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem Christmas Bells. I’ve been familiar with the poem for years, more through the variety of interpretations the poem has experienced in song, but the power of Longfellow’s words themselves ring loud and clear. As I sat in theContinue reading “Time to Hear the Christmas Bells”
Overcoming Infamy
“No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will makeContinue reading “Overcoming Infamy”
The Gardens of the Grave
Driving out to pick up my weekly order of organic whole milk and grass-fed beef this afternoon, I was struck by the relevance of a song I recorded back in 2012 with my sons for our Full Fathom Five EP: “Gardens of the Grave.” In a time when I have intentionally limited my consumption ofContinue reading “The Gardens of the Grave”
THANKSGIVING
Psalm 100 A psalm of thanksgiving. 1 Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!2 Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy.3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to himContinue reading “THANKSGIVING”
Deception: Are You Seeing With or Through the Eye?
“This life’s dim windows of the soul / Distorts the heavens from pole to pole / And leads you to believe a lie / When you see with, not through, the eye.” William Blake, from The Everlasting Gospel Before we put a hard stop on life to celebrate Thanksgiving with our loved ones, perhaps weContinue reading “Deception: Are You Seeing With or Through the Eye?”
Longfellow’s Timely Celebration of Life
“1ife: the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body” from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/life We have been duped into accepting something as life that by definition is not. Fear, the most infectious disease spreading across the globe, has crippled us. The prescription: isolation. Look at the empty stands of sporting events (where theyContinue reading “Longfellow’s Timely Celebration of Life”
