v. anastasi
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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…
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Like many of these songs, I’ve wanted to avoid the obvious retelling of the classic mythological tales that these constellations represent, but I found this story so compelling that I chose to structure my stanzas around the four movements or seasons of the life of Orpheus. What stood out to me as the real takeaway…
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Ebullience: (noun) the quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts or feelings : exuberance “Ebullience.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ebullience. Accessed 21 May. 2023. Ebullience by Vincent H. Anastasi 2019 The baby chimpanzee: upside-down jester on its mother’s knee (mouth wide, tongue out) face of buffoonery, twisted strands of straw defying gravity dangle upward while…
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Either Wendell Berry and I share the same mother, or he just perfectly captured the power of forgiveness that many mothers exhibit. As I read this poem for the first time, I imagined myself as the speaker. Though not outwardly rebellious to my mother’s face, the boy I presented at home bore no likeness to…
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As the school year draws to a close, it admittedly becomes more challenging to plan engaging lessons to rein in the drifting minds of students who smell the fresh-cut grass and can only imagine the summer days stretching out before them. (Admittedly, I TOO feel the same way!) We always talk about the Three Rs…
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Sabbath Poem II (1995) by Wendell Berry The best reward in going to the woods Is being lost to other people, and Lost sometimes to myself. I’m at the end Of no bespeaking wire to spoil my goods; I send no letter back I do not bring. Whoever wants me now must hunt me down…
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Am I having a midlife crisis? After over two decades of teaching, I am spent. Over the past few months, I have begun to seriously question my role as an educator. The kind words of Wendell Berry, reminding me that “as a high school English teacher you are necessary, and I’m guessing with some confidence…
the deepening ground 