v. anastasi
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In honor of all the graduates around the world, I present this piece originally written in 2019 as part of my series of The Guardian Photo of the Day poems. I was never completely content with what I initially wrote, so I went back to the conclusion and tweaked things to better incorporate both the…
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I would have loved to share the thirty second clip I took of Wolf Creek panning from the dam in the image above down through the smaller dams my sons and I created, on to the waters that slow as they pass the tire swing so you could more fully experience the sight and soundscape…
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The beauty of Pisces rests in the tethering. Flipping back through all my drafts of this song, one phrase remained constant: “tether me to you.” The story of Pisces goes back to the mythology surrounding Typhon, the most awful monster the world had ever seen, with a hundred dragon heads with black tongues and eyes…
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Today, at the persistent urging of my AP students, I took them outside to the courtyard to debate which poem of our Poetry “March” Madness showdown should stand as the piece that best captures the complexity of the human condition. It came down to “Perhaps the World Ends Here” by Joy Harjo (which I shared…
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Amid the blurring pace of life racing towards the finish line of another school year, I came upon this unpublished The Guardian Photo of the Day poem I composed back in 2019. I agree with T. S. Eliot: “April is the cruellest month,” with weekly timed essays to grade in AP English, final speeches to…
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I started work on “Cassiopeia” back in late February, reading up on the mythology behind the constellation. Once again, we encounter a vain and boastful character whose ultimate demise reminds us of the danger of vanity and unchecked pride. But what stood out to me as even more important was the cost of her vanity.…
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In celebration of April Fools’ Day, I’m pulling out one of the few remaining Photo of the Day poems I wrote back in 2019, inspired by the best photographs on The Guardian‘s website. Back on February 13th, the image above led me into a whimsical (and clearly immature) reflection on collecting stool samples. Rather than…
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Between wrapping up the third marking period at school, putting all my creative energies into finishing my series of fifteen constellation songs (TWO TO GO!), and the busyness of Spring with speech and debate tournaments, announcing baseball games, and the seasonal “to do” list, I figured I would benefit from a stroll down memory lane…
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According to the calendar, Spring has arrived. Yet the snow today in Western Pennsylvania cast doubts on the accuracy of the vernal equinox. And rather than enjoy an afternoon walk in the “vernal wood” of William Wordsworth’s vision (remember, it was snowing here, windy, and no warmer than 42 degrees Fahrenheit according to the highly…
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In this Lenten season, I have turned once again to The Word in the Wilderness: A Poem a Day for Lent and Easter by Malcolm Guite. Like the old adage goes, “A poem a day keeps the doctor away!” (Or something along those lines.) For me, Guite’s collection provides refreshing oases to rest throughout the…
the deepening ground 