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The Power of a Poem
Lower School Head Fred Chandler began his remarks at a recent Father’s Committee meeting the way he often does—by reciting a poem that, in his words, “gets into the meat of a recent rumination.” Enjoy his recitation of John Murillo’s “Variations on a Theme by Elizabeth Bishop.” Asked why he chose the poem, Chandler noted: “The pandemic moment has been profoundly defined by loss. Yes, sickness and death have marked these times, but loss, deficit, and voids of all sorts sprinkle around us these days. Rue and sadness ensue, but lurking behind loss is always a new chance, some kind of new way forward, a chance for hope.”
CREDIT: “Variations on a Theme by Elizabeth Bishop” from Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry. Copyright © 2020 by John Murillo. Appears with permission of Four Way Books. All rights reserved.
St. Albans School
Phone: 202-537-6435
Located in Washington D.C., St. Albans School is a private, all boys day and boarding school. For more than a century, St. Albans has offered a distinctive educational experience for young men in grades 4 through 12. While our students reach exceptional academic goals and exhibit first-rate athletic and artistic achievements, as an Episcopal school we place equal emphasis upon moral and spiritual education.