poems
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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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Just the other night I thought to myself, “I haven’t seen a post from Vova Zinger in awhile.” I wondered if I had been kicked off his email notifications or if something else had happened. I came upon his photography a few years ago shortly after I started the deepening ground and I looked forward…
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Wrestling Insipidity: Between Inspiration and Fatigue By Vincent H. Anastasi 2024 This perpetual exhaustion tires me to no end,and in those quiescent momentswhen I bolt the door on duty,I await the belated muse —but my lamp’s expired and, once again,I have missed the long-expected groom.I assume when each demanding “to do” is done,primed to write,…
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I began this poem years ago when my eldest son (now 23!) was much younger. I didn’t note the date on the typed copy I recently found, but I still distinctly remember him saying that the “world is a museum of leaves” as he surveyed the autumnal landscape. That phrase has stuck with me through…
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Life is full of transitions. For me, the end of summer comes a month early with a return to the classroom. Those days of school starting after Labor Day are long forgotten. Just before my summer vacation came to a close, I intentionally spent one last Sunday seated in my camping chair in the middle…
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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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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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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…
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“It is no more possible to live in the future than it is to live in the past. If life is not now, it is never.” Wendell Berry, The Long-Legged House Meditations on Modernity By Vincent H. Anastasi 2023 IV. The Life Let this be the day well done: not the timely completion of all…
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“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Meditations on Modernity By Vincent H. Anastasi 2023 III. The Medicine If I could take the creek to work, I would – hitch a ride with the swans who swam…
the deepening ground 