Family

  • Advice to Our Newborns: Johnson’s “A Poet to His Baby Son”

    On Valentine’s Day I became a grandfather. Our first grandson! My wife was blessed to be there to prepare for and help with the delivery, as well as provide extra support for the first week of Liam’s life. By late spring, I will be a grandfather twice over when we welcome our second grandson into

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  • The Weight of Responsibility: Pastan’s “Sometimes in Winter”

    Tonight I came home from work to the day-to-day needs that swarm me almost as soon as I open my car door. The younger boys want to head to Walmart; my middle son’s basketball practice begins at 5:30; my wife and daughter have their book group meeting this evening, so we need to order pizza

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  • Taking Time to Sabbath: Wendell Berry, Wingspan, and My Wife #Poem #Poetry #Sabbath #Game #Bird #Wingspan #Cherry #Family #Wife #WendellBerry

    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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  • Advent: Thursday, December 8 #Advent #Tanka #Poem #Poetry #Christmas #Loss #Family

    Advent: December 8 By Vincent H. Anastasi 2022 The empty places like the white space on this page define what remains and gathered round the table we embrace our lives left full.

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  • Allium Homage: A Lighthearted Blackout Poem  #Onions #Garlic #BlackoutPoetry #Poem

    I dedicate tonight’s Blackout Poem to my mother-in-law, Bonnie, who is the queen of garlic. She cuts up and eats raw garlic with nearly every dinner, including (BRACE YOURSELF!) pancakes. I still remember my initiation into the Stitt family upon first meeting my wife’s older brothers. You like garlic? Here, try this. As an Italian,

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  • The Addictive Nature of Refrigerator Poetry #Poetry #MagneticPoetry

    My daughter brought home a container of Magnetic Poetry, the Receivables Custom Edition, from work last week (she works at our local library). Since then, the refrigerator has become the deepening ground of our home with everyone chipping in to various poetic “masterpieces,” including the eight and ten-year-olds (grandma has not felt poetically inspired as

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  • Though it may seem odd to some to return to the stable on Epiphany, it’s the culmination of the celebration of Christmas, and, personally this year, a reminder of my late mother who passed away five years ago on New Year’s Day. According to NationalToday.com: “Epiphany is a Christian feast day celebrating the revelation of

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  • Coming Home

    Christmas reminds me just how much I’m not at home. Strangers now own the house where I grew up outside of Philadelphia. Five years ago, my parents sold it and moved to central Pennsylvania to live closer to my sister. Shortly thereafter my mother passed away. As much as I enjoy visiting my family there

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  • As I hinted in my last post, I had an unforeseen trip to the optometrist last Wednesday. What I initially thought was a pernicious eyelash playing hide-and-seek beneath my eyelid ended up being a two-day ordeal that led to the removal of a minuscule calcification that had been abrading my cornea. And though I can’t

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  • First Things First

    We’ve begun Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol in British Literature, and as we plumb the depths of Ebeneezer Scrooge’s character, I am reminded of how easily we can be distracted from the things that are truly most important in life. Indirect characterization often speaks louder than any direct statement made about one’s character. Watch how

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