Poem
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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…
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Here’s one of those photos that immediately captures your attention with the “perfect” moment. I would have loved to had access to a series of photos taken before, during, and after this potentially bone-shattering encounter, but this Guardian Photo of the Day snapshot is enough to teach a valuable lesson. I may not understand “the…
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Originally posted on My Pastoral Ponderings: If Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain and your faith is in vain … But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. 1 Corinthians 15:14,20 I was pleasantly surprised to learn that “Seven Stanzas…
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Good Friday by Christina Rossetti Am I a stone, and not a sheep, That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross, To number drop by drop Thy blood’s slow loss, And yet not weep? Not so those women loved Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee; Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly; Not so the…
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All the images above come from The Guardian’s best photographs of the day posted on February 5, 2019, capturing moments of death, disaster, discontent, and division from England, Bangladesh, Canada, Paris, and the United States. Four years later, these atrocities continue to manifest all around the world, and those without a firm foundation and steady…
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Back in 2015, I taught a one-week summer poetry workshop. For one of their assignments, I challenged my students to compare themselves to one of the core elements or something from nature. My poem, “Elementary Matters”, based on this concept, can be found by clicking on the poem title. The poem below comes from the…
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In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day this Friday, here’s an unpublished photo poem from my collection of works inspired by images from The Guardian’s Photo of the Day posts that I wrote back in 2019. Though these Irish setters aren’t fooling around on what was the first day of the Crufts dog show, I found…
the deepening ground 