v. anastasi
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Early into Sunday morning I stood staring at my refrigerator door dueling with words. In the absence of other inspiration, the magnetic poetry drew my attention away from the latest disc golf round and fixed me to the puzzle in front of me. I had played around with a few of the lines a week…
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“EDUCATION is mostly about institutions and getting tickets stamped; LEARNING is what we do for ourselves.” ~ Thomas C. Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor (emphasis mine) On Monday, I will celebrate the dawn of my 24th year in education. Three days of in-service preparation are behind me. Open house took place last…
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Nursing a rough case of writer’s block. Summer has been full (as always), and time to write and reflect upon all that’s happened or sit in the still of a quiet day and just soak in the moment has been rare indeed. My mind has turned towards teaching, selecting new works to share with my…
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Rather than draw from one of the Greek myths for this song, I went to the Roman story of Cygnus, Phaethon, and Helios. (Read a short summary HERE) The contrast between Phaethon and Cygnus immediately struck me, and I saw in Phaethon both Adam in the Garden of Eden and humanity in general, dazzled by…
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Midsummer passed without much fanfare. Yet for me, it’s a harbinger of late summer and the beginning of another school year. Like nearly every summer, the days flit by without much structure, despite attempts to bring order to the wonderful chaos, and now I begin to feel that growing sense of unpreparedness. I haven’t even…
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Savoring the pace of summer here at home with my family! Sure, there are projects that need to be addressed such as the “new” doors that need to be stained from the addition we put on back in 2020. I need to touch up the rust spots on the van and the garlic needs to…
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I have held off on sharing this poem for years, though I love the image and the structure (rhyme and meter) of the poem itself. I don’t believe I wrote this poem from a place of hardness of heart; truly the image inspired the work that follows. Nor do I ever want to be known…
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Here’s a great post I read this morning from a poet I follow online. I love the use of gustatory imagery in the opening lines and all the varied light imagery that builds to that beautiful meditation on “light everlasting.” Such a hope-filled reminder of the Light that swallows up all darkness! A slice of…
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Fathers, like children, are one of those common treasures often overlooked. Though the poem that follows has no direct relation to Father’s Day proper, I share it as a reminder (mostly to myself) to slow down and savor the common treasures of life like time with your children wading in the waters of the creek,…
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By the calendar, summer has yet to fold back the cluttered page of Spring. By the end of the school year, summer has spread out like endless fields before me. As I wrap up grading student essays for the AP English Literature exam tomorrow (it’s been a prose year for me…but I’ve enjoyed it), let…
the deepening ground 