Poetry
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“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” First Amendment, The Bill of Rights Back in 2019, several…
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If you haven’t read yesterday’s post, you won’t fully appreciate what Wendell Berry offers in this haikuesque poem of just three lines. Come away from modernity to be still enough to catch this passing moment before the looming shadows of daily life hide, once again, the extraordinary deepening grounds waiting in plain sight. XX (2012)…
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Flipping through my copy of Wendell Berry’s This Day: Collected & New Sabbath Poems, I found myself drawn to the poems that conclude the volume, echoes of the Mad Farmer filling the pages. Try as I might to find a softer piece for this post, I kept returning to this poem and the haunting refrain,…
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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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Although it feels like I’m cheating just posting a single haiku, of all the remaining unpublished poems from my 2019 The Guardian Photo of the Day collection, this one keeps calling for my attention. I’ve posted other poems that tackle the concept of hope, like Lisel Mueller’s Hope, and recommended many others, such as Dickinson’s…
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Moving into a new week, I find Mary Oliver’s poetry rich with invitations to live life more fully, to deepen in the places where we have been planted, and to radiate joy in the midst of suffering, remembering our part in the glorious tapestry of life. I almost packed a few poems into this post,…
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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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“EDUCATION is mostly about institutions and getting tickets stamped; LEARNING is what we do for ourselves.” ~ Thomas C. Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor (emphasis mine) On Monday, I will celebrate the dawn of my 24th year in education. Three days of in-service preparation are behind me. Open house took place last…
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Nursing a rough case of writer’s block. Summer has been full (as always), and time to write and reflect upon all that’s happened or sit in the still of a quiet day and just soak in the moment has been rare indeed. My mind has turned towards teaching, selecting new works to share with my…
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Midsummer passed without much fanfare. Yet for me, it’s a harbinger of late summer and the beginning of another school year. Like nearly every summer, the days flit by without much structure, despite attempts to bring order to the wonderful chaos, and now I begin to feel that growing sense of unpreparedness. I haven’t even…
the deepening ground 