Welcome

This is my first official post on the new blog. My inspiration for this project began with an assignment I was given this past spring while working on my MFA. I instructed to follow two literary blogs (of my choosing) for the entire semester. I followed Avoiding the Muse and Elegant Variation and enjoyed both blogs immensely. I’m starting small and hoping to increase the content gradually.

Here goes!

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The fall semester began this week, so I’m back to teaching composition. When school starts back up again, I start to think about fall (my favorite season). When I begin to think about fall, I start thinking about all the wonderful poems that are associated with the season in some way or another. To commemorate my love of all things autumn, I’ve decided to post a poem a week that is some way associated with fall. This weeks poem is “Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, OH” by James Wright.

Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, OH

In the Shreve High football stadium,
I think of Polacks nursing long beers in Tiltonsville,
And gray faces of Negroes in the blast furnace at Benwood,
And the ruptured night watchman of Wheeling Steel,
Dreaming of heroes.

All the proud fathers are ashamed to go home.
Their women cluck like starved pullets,
Dying for love.

Therefore,
Their sons grow suicidally beautiful
At the beginning of October,
And gallop terribly against each other's bodies.

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I recently took on a full time teaching position at the school where I’ve been adjuncting over the past two years. I’ll probably be posting about the different experiences that come with this new position. So far, my first week is moving along relatively smoothly. The biggest glitch is that I am currently without any furniture in my office. I’m afraid that if any students stop by during office hours, they’re going to think I’m squatting. Updates to follow.

I took this picture about a month ago. Poetry is everywhere.