For a quick lesson on Sappho and lyric poetry, I asked my World Literature (third year high school) students to continue writing what may have been lost in the fragments of Sappho’s poetry. I chose four fragments for them to choose from, and from them my students created their own poems. Below are some of… Continue reading This week’s lesson: The fragments of Sappho, “completed”
This poem brings back memories of a secret that’s happily kept as one, even though everybody else is on it anyway. 🙂 Ode to a Secret Love Pablo Neruda They’ve guessed our secret, you know. They see me, they see us, and nothing has been said— neither your eyes nor your voice, neither your hair… Continue reading Poetry Wednesdays: Ode to a Secret Love by Pablo Neruda
After what’s probably the most eventful summer of my life — so eventful I haven’t had the time to blog everything! — I’m back doing work, preparing for the next school year. I’m reading some ancient Greek literature. All this is making me want to travel to Greece. We begin with mythology, of course, and… Continue reading Poetry Wednesdays: Fragment 31 of Sappho’s Poetry
I wanted to go to Lake Sebu primarily because of the following poem by Marjorie Evasco: Dreamweavers Marjorie Evasco We are entitled to our own Definitions of the worlds We have in common: Earth  house      (stay) Water well        (carry) Fire stove     … Continue reading Travel Tales: Lake Sebu, and some thoughts on traveling
In the past few weeks, my English classes and I had been doing something I’m extremely proud of – we mounted their original dramatic pieces during our One-Act Play Festival last November 12 and 13. This was the second year our seniors did this, but our venue this year was bigger: our school theatre has… Continue reading A one-act play fest for high school
Falling and Flying Jack Gilbert Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew. It’s the same when love comes to an end, or the marriage fails and people say they knew it was a mistake, that everybody said it would never work. That she was old enough to know better. But anything worth doing is worth doing… Continue reading Poetry Wednesdays: “Falling and Flying” by Jack Gilbert
I can’t believe I haven’t posted for almost a month! The school year does this to me, so here’s a quick post. I’ve always enjoyed the poem below for its biting irony, and for how it lays bare the absurdity of prejudice (or the absurdity of thought among prejudiced people). A poem with a similar theme… Continue reading Poetry Wednesdays: “Telephone Conversation” by Wole Soyinka
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about time — about its fleetingness, about all those Latin sayings (tempus fugit – time flies; tempus edax rerum – time, devourer of all things; carpe diem – seize the day), about how little time I have in this world to do all that I want to do. 2012 was a terrible… Continue reading Poetry Wednesdays: “Get Drunk” by Charles Baudelaire
It’s the first day of school again. Times like these I am reminded of my philosophy and pedagogy, which are constantly subject to self-evaluation and, sometimes, revision. I post the poem below as a reminder that there’s a whole world outside the classroom, yet I can never divorce the content of my subject from the… Continue reading Poetry Wednesdays: “For a Student Sleeping in a Poetry Workshop” by David Wagoner
The First To Love Simeon Dumdum Jr. Always she is a step ahead. When I think of giving her flowers, She waylays me with wine-red roses. And if I get up in the morning, Pulled out of bed by the idea Of a long walk across the fields, She would be there, lacing her shoes,… Continue reading Poetry Wednesdays: “The First to Love” by Simeon Dumdum Jr.
Ang Lakwatserang Guro 