Poetry
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Rather than add a few more photo poems today (I may add some later this week), I turn to the newest song in my constellation series. It’s been six months since I last wrote something musically, a sad commentary on the pace and priorities of my life from a creative perspective. It’s not that I…
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As we continue to experience the weight of winter weather here in Western Pennsylvania, my thoughts returned this morning to the Photo Poem series I wrote two years ago, inspired by the The Guardian‘s “Best Photographs of the Day.” Like the chap from Turkey in the first image, I have done my share of shoveling…
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Sitting here in my library, I notice a book my wife has set out on one of the mini-easels propped up on the corner bookshelf: The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise by Robert Cardinal Sarah. I have never read the book myself, but its title speaks volumes to me. Silence is a…
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We’re a month away from Valentine’s Day, but it’s never too early to share some of the most beautiful love poetry ever written. Admittedly, the love poem I quote the most is Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 116” followed closely by Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnet 43,” and who can speak of love poetry without noting that profound 27th…
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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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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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My first encounter with Malcolm Guite came when he visited Grove City College years ago. A poet-priest-musician, my heart echoed with his song. Though I did not get up to the chapel to see him face-to-face, multiple friends of the family brought me excerpts of his work. Years later, we now own multiple collections authored…
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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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At the end of the summer, I bought a bonsai tree. I planned to bring it to school to enrich the ambiance of my classroom (so much wall-to-wall gray!). For a few weeks, it served as the unique centerpiece of our kitchen table. With all of the light in the observatory (our dining/living room area),…
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Last Sunday brought the first true snowfall to our region of Western Pennsylvania. I came outside to find my younger sons flitting about the driveway, mouths open wide, chasing the elusive snowflakes. In all honesty, they didn’t have to try that hard. The air was aflutter with crystalline moths; our tongues, the warm branches upon…
the deepening ground 