Songs of the Sea & Fo’castle

The Greenland Whale Fisheries

The American Folk Experience

The Greenland Whale Fisheries

by John Fitzsimmons | The American Folk Experience

~Traditional 

‘Twas in eighteen hundred and fifty-three
And of June the thirteenth day,
That our gallant ship her anchor weighed,
And for greenland bore away, brave boys,
And for greenland bore away.

The lookout in the crosstrees stood
With spyglass in his hand;
There’s a whale, there’s a whale, there’s whalefish he cried
And she blows at every span, brave boys
She blows at every span.

The captain stood on the quarter deck,
And a fine little man was he;
“Overhaul, overhaul! Let your davit tackles fall,
And launch your boats for sea, brave boys
And launch your boats for sea.

Now the boats were launched and the men aboard,
And the whale was full in view.
Resolv-ed was each seaman bold
To steer where the whalefish blew, brave boys
To steer where the whalefish blew.

We stuck the whale the line paid out,
But she gave a flourish with her tail,
The boat capsized and four men were drowned,
And we never caught that whale, brave boys,
And we never caught that whale.

“To lose the whale,” our captain said,
It grieves my heart full sore,
But oh! to lose (those) four gallant men
It grieves me ten times more brave boys
It grieves me ten times more.

The winter star doth now appear,
So, boys we’ll anchor weight;
It’s time to leave this cold country
And homeward bear away, brave boys
And homeward bear away.

Oh Greenland is a dreadful place
A land that’s never green
Where there’s ice and snow, and the whalefishes blow
(and the) daylight’s seldom seen brave boys
But the daylight’s seldom seen.

 

If you have any more information to share about this song or helpful links, please post as a comment. Thanks for stopping by the site! ~John Fitz

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I am indebted to the many friends who share my love of traditional songs and to the many scholars whose works are too many to include here. I am also incredibly grateful to the collector’s curators and collators of Wikipedia, Mudcat.org, MainlyNorfolk.info, and TheContemplator.com for their wise, thorough and informative contributions to the study of folk music. 

I share this scholarly research on my site with humility, thanks, and gratitude. Please cite sources accordingly with your own research. If you have any research or sites you would like to share on this site, please post in the comment box.  

Thanks!

 

Source: Wikipedia

Edit links
This article is about the folk song. For whaling in Greenland, see Whaling § Greenland.
Greenland Fisheries
Tune for Greenland Fisheries
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"Greenland Whale Fisheries" (also called "The Greenland Whale Fishery", "Sperm Whale Fishery", or "The Ballad of the Greenland Whalers") is a traditional sea song, originating in the West Indies but known all over the Atlantic Ocean.[1] In most of the versions collected from oral sources, the song opens up giving a date for the events that it describes (usually between 1823 and 1853). However, the song is actually older than this and a form of it was published as a ballad before 1725.[2] It has been given a Roud number of 347.[3]

The song tells of a whaling expedition that leaves for Greenland. The lookout spots a "whalefish", and harpoon boats are launched. However, the whale strikes the boat with its tail, capsizing it, and several men are killed. The captain grieves over losing his men, but especially for having lost his prey. He then orders the ship to sail for home, calling Greenland a "dreadful place".

Like most traditional songs, "Greenland Whale Fisheries" exists in different versions.[4] Some change details (such as the date of the expedition), and others add or remove verses. Some modern versions, including the ones recorded by Judy Collins and Theodore Bikel, The Chad Mitchell Trio, and later by The Pogues, flip the captain's expression of grief to make him regret losing his catch even more than losing his crew.

In the version popularized by The Weavers and Peter, Paul and Mary, a shanty recorded by Alan Lomax from a Bahamian fisherman[5] is appended, which begins, "When the whale gets strike, and the line run down, and the whale makes a flounder with her tail, and the boat capsized, and we lost our darling man, No more, no more Greenland for you you, Pray Boys, No more, no more Greenland for you."...."[6]

Folk singer Paul Kaplan recorded a song with the same tune under the title "Call Me the Whale". Following a similar chronology, it tells the story from the whale's perspective.[7]

In the Futurama episode "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz", Bender, in an ironic state of soberness, sings a snippet of the song.

The Greenland Whalefishers, a Celtic punk band from Norway, is named after the song.

Recorded versions

References

  1. ^ "The Greenland Whale Fishery (Roud 347; Laws K21; G/D 1:9)". mainlynorfolk.info. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  2. ^ R. Vaughan Williams & A.L. Lloyd (editors): The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, Penguin Books, 1959. p.115
  3. ^ "Vaughan Williams Memorial Library Roud 347 entry".
  4. ^ e.g. Vaughan Williams & Lloyd p.50. Version collected by Anne G. Gilchrist from the singing of W. Bolton, Southport, Lancashire, 1906
  5. ^ "Bahamas 1935: Chanteys & Anthems from Andros & Cat - Alan Lomax | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.
  6. ^ Check-list of Recorded Songs in the English Language in the Archive of Folk Song, United States Work Projects Administration. District of Columbia - 1942,Page 435
  7. ^ Call Me the Whale Lyrics
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_Whale_Fisheries

Source: Mainly Norfolk

The Greenland Whale Fishery

[ Roud 347 ; Laws K21 ; G/D 1:9 ; Ballad Index LK21 ; trad.]The Greenland Whale Fishery is a song about the Spitsbergen right whale fishing in the 1720s. A version collected from W. Bolton, Southport, Lancashire in 1906 by Anne Gilchrist was printed in A.L. Lloyd and Vaughan Williams’ The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs (1959).A.L. Lloyd sang The Greenland Whale Fishery in 1956 on his, Ewan MacColl and Harry H. Corbett’s album The Singing Sailor. This recording was reissued on their albums Singing Sailors (Wattle Records, Australia) and Off to Sea Once More (Stinson Records, USA).

A.L. Lloyd also recorded this song for his and Ewan MacColl’s Riverside LP Thar She Blows! (where it was called Sperm Whale Fishery) and, for a third time, in 1967 for the album Leviathan! Ballads and Songs of the Whaling Trade. He commented in the latter album’s sleeve notes:

This is the oldest—and many think the best—of surviving songs of the whaling trade. It had already appeared on a broadside around 1725, very shortly after the South Sea Company decided to resuscitate the then moribund whaling industry, and sent a dozen fine large ships around Spitsbergen and the Greenland Sea. The song went on being sung with small changes all the time to bring it up to date. Our present version mentions the year 1834, the ship Lion, its captain Randolph. Other versions give other years, and name other ships and skippers (there was a whaler the Lion, out of Liverpool, but her captain’s name was Hawkins, and she was lost off Greenland in 1817). We may take it that the incident described in the song is not historical but imaginary, a stylisation like those thrilling engravings of whaling scenes that were once so popular. But the song’s pattern of departure, chase, and return home, was imitated in a large number of whaling ballads made subsequently. It is the ace and deuce of whale songs.

Ewan MacColl sang just three verses—5, 8 and 9—of The Greenland Whale Fishery in the musical score of the 1962 film Whaler Out of New Bedford.

Philip Hamon and Hilary Carre of Sark on the Channel Islands sang The Whale Fishery on the anthology Sailormen and Servingmaids (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 6; Caedmon 1961; Topic 1970).

The Watersons sang a concise six-verse version of The Greenland Whale Fishery in 1965 on their very first record, New Voices. This wonderful recording was included on the Topic sampler Sea Songs and Shanties and on the French compilation Chants de Marins IV: Ballads, Complaintes et Shanties des Matelots Anglais, reissued on the Watersons’ CD Early Days, included on the 1993 Topic sampler Blow the Man Down: Sea Songs and Shanties and in 2004 on the Watersons’ 4 CD anthology Mighty River of Song.

A.L. Lloyd commented in the New Voices sleeve notes:

How old is this song? In the Watersons’ version the date 1864 is given, which is thirty years too late for Greenland whaling, for by 1830 the Greenland grounds were fished out and the expeditions had transferred their attention to the seas of Baffin Bay. In any case, we know the song is very much older than it seems, for it was already in print as a broadside before 1725. The Dutch and English had opened up the Greenland grounds (where, by the way, they fished for right whales, not sperm whales) early in the sixteenth century so the song came into being some time between then and the opening years of the eighteenth. It remained a great favourite, being reprinted over and again by broadside publishers, and many versions of it have been collected from country singers during the present century. It’s one of the great sea songs.

Mike Waterson and Louis Killen sang The Greenland Whale Fishery in 1965 in the BBC TV documentary about the Watersons, Travelling for a Living.

The Pogues recorded Greenland Whale Fisheries in 1984 for their first album, Red Roses for Me, and Van Dyke Parks sang it in 2006 on Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys.

Jon Boden sang Greenland Whale Fishery as the August 4, 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day. He noted in the blog:

My first introduction to The Watersons was on a Topic LP Sea Songs and Shanties that I borrowed from Winchester library at a tender age. I had heard Norma sing on the first Waterson:Carthy album but was absolutely knocked out by the ferocity of the sound the three siblings and cousin John could produce. This was one of [four] Waterson tracks on the album.

This YouTube video shows the Exmouth Shanty Men singing Greenland Whale Fisheries at the Blackmoor Theatre Exmouth in November 2008:

Lyrics

A.L. Lloyd sings The Greenland Whale Fishery The Watersons sing The Greenland Whale Fishery
We may no longer stay ashore
Since we’re so deep in debt.
So off to Greenland we will steer
Some money for to get, brave boys,
Some money for to get.
It was eighteen hundred and thirty-four,
On March the seventeenth day,
That we hoist our colours to the top of the tree
And for Greenland bore away, brave boys,
For Greenland bore away		 They took us jolly sailor lads
A-fishing for the whale.
On the fourth day of August in 1864
Bound for Greenland we set sail.
John Randolph was our captain’s name,
Our ship the “Lion” so bold.
We had fifteen men and they were brave
For to face the wind and cold, brave boys,
To face the wind and cold
It was when we come to them icy grounds
Our good ship for to moor.
It was then that we wished ourselves back again
With the pretty girls ashore, brave boys,
With the pretty girls ashore
Our bosun he goes up aloft
With a spyglass in his hand.
“It’s a whale, a whale, oh a whale-fish,” he cries,
“And he blows at every span, brave boys,
And he blows at every span.”		 The lookout stood on the cross-trees high
With a spyglass in his hand.
“There’s a whale, there’s a whale, there’s a whale-fish,” he cried,
“And she blows at every span.”
Our captain walked on the quarterdeck
And the ice was in his eye
“Overhaul, overhaul, let your davit tackle falls.”
And we launch our boats all three, brave boys,
We launch our boats all three.		 The captain stood on the quarterdeck,
And a sod of a man was he.
“Overhaul, overhaul, let your davit tackles fall.”
And we’ll launch them boats to sea.
Well, every keel had its bold harpooner,
It’s pikeaneer a steerer also,
And four jolly tars for to pull at the oars.
And a-whaling we did go, brave boys,
Oh a-whaling we did go.
Well, our boats got down, and the men all in
And the whale was full in view.
Resolved, resolved, was them whalermen so bold
To strike when the whale-fish blew, brave boys,
To strike when the whale-fish blew.
Well, the harpoon struck, and down went the whale
With a flourish of his tail.
And by chance we lost two men overboard.
No more Greenland for you, brave boys,
And we never caught that whale.		 We struck that whale and the line played out
But she gave a flurry with her tail.
And the boat capsized, we lost seven of our men,
And we never caught that whale.
When the captain heard of the loss of his men,
It grieved his heart full sore.
But when he heard of the loss of the whale,
It was half-mast colours all, brave boys,
It was half-mast colours all.		 Now the losing of seven fine seamen,
It grieved the captain sore.
But the losing of a bloody sperm whale
Oh, it grieved him ten times more.
The winter star did now appear,
And it’s time our anchor for to weigh,
To stow below our running gear
And from Greenland bear away, brave boys,
From Greenland bear away.
Oh, that Greenland is a dreadful place,
No longer can we stay.
Now the cold winds blow and the whales do go
And it’s seldom ever day, brave boys,
It’s seldom ever day.		 Now, Greenland is a horrid place,
Where our fisher lads have to go,
Where the rose and the lily never bloom in spring;
No there’s only ice and snow.

Acknowledgements

The Watersons’ version was transcribed by Garry Gillard. A.L. Lloyd’s version is from the Leviathan! sleeve notes.

Performances, Workshops, Resources & Recordings

The American Folk Experience is dedicated to collecting and curating the most enduring songs from our musical heritage.  Every performance and workshop is a celebration and exploration of the timeless songs and stories that have shaped and formed the musical history of America. John Fitzsimmons has been singing and performing these gems of the past for the past forty years, and he brings a folksy warmth, humor and massive repertoire of songs to any occasion. 

Festivals & Celebrations

Coffeehouses

School Assemblies

Library Presentations

Songwriting Workshops

Artist in Residence

House Concerts

Pub Singing

Irish & Celtic Performances

Poetry Readings

Campfires

Music Lessons

Senior Centers

Voiceovers & Recording

““Beneath the friendly charisma is the heart of a purist gently leading us from the songs of our lives to the timeless traditional songs he knows so well…”

 

Globe Magazine

Join Fitz at The Colonial Inn

“The Nobel Laureate of New England Pub Music…”

Scott Alaric

Adventures in the Modern Folk Underground

On the Green, in Concord, MA Every Thursday Night for over thirty years…

“A Song Singing, Word Slinging, Story Swapping, Ballad Mongering, Folksinger, Teacher, & Poet…”

Theo Rogue

Songcatcher Rag

Fitz’s Recordings

& Writings

Songs, poems, essays, reflections and ramblings of a folksinger, traveler, teacher, poet and thinker…

Download for free from the iTunes Bookstore

Now Available on iTunes!

“A Master of Folk…”

The Boston Globe

Fitz’s now classic recording of original songs and poetry…

Download from the iTunes Music Store

Now Available on iTunes!

“A Masterful weaver of song whose deep, resonant voice rivals the best of his genre…”

Spirit of Change Magazine

“2003: Best Children’s Music Recording of the Year…”

Boston Parent's Paper

Fitz & The Salty Dawgs Amazing music, good times and good friends…

Listen here

TheCraftedWord.org

Writing help

when you need it…

“When the eyes rest on the soul…that’s Fitzy…”

Lenny Megliola

WEEI Radio

Paris: 11/13/15

by | November 14, 2015 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

It is a sad day for humanity. Another sad day on top of many others happening every day--many in places we hear about only obliquley and sometimes not at all. Paris is that much closer to home for most of us here and in Europe, but freedom and tolerance has to...
Read More

The Inn

by | December 17, 2015 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

        I realized that in all my years of writing and journal keeping, I seldom, if ever, write about "The Inn," which is and has been, the biggest and most enduring constant in my life for the past thirty plus years. Every Thursday night I load up my car, truck, bus...
Read More

Thanksgiving

by | November 28, 2013 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

I am surprised sometimes by the suddenness of November: beauty abruptly shed to a common nakedness— grasses deadened by hoarfrost, persistent memories of people I’ve lost. It is left to those of us dressed in the hard barky skin of experience to insist on a decorum...
Read More

Dallas: 7/7/2016

by | July 8, 2016 | Journal | 0 Comments

I woke up this morning almost too fearful to read the news. I stayed up late into the night just watching for the breaking stories and updates. Now, I am simplyconfused about how to act. I feel incredibly small and pointless, unsure of where I stand and how to move...
Read More

Your Haiku…

by | March 25, 2026 | Journal | 0 Comments

I have had a go0d read so far reading your haiku. I have a couple of thoughts... I never quite know how to teach how to use specific imagery.  When I say "specific" maybe I "real." I--and every reader--wants to "see" what you are seeing. avoid anything generic that...
Read More

Supermoon

by | August 10, 2014 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

Last night the August supermoon reminded me of the fickleness of time and how substance becomes shadow and memories begin to etch themselves immutably into the hardness of what is already lost.
Read More

Joshua Sawyer

by | August 11, 2014 | Fires in the Belly, Poetry | 0 Comments

I doubt I’d ever have taken this road
had I known how fallen it really was
to disrepair: driving comically,
skirting ruts and high boulders, grimacing
at every bang on the oil pan.
I tell you it’s the old road to Wendell —
that they don’t make them like this anymore.

Read More

Ready. Set. Go.

by | April 7, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

Who forgets to rinse his hair? Me, I guess, for that was the start of my day. I smelled something like coconut oil on my way to school, and then I realized, dang, my hair is still pretty wet. Wet with hair conditioner. And then I get sot school all coconutty smelling...
Read More

Ginny

by | March 25, 2026 | Journal, Songs | 0 Comments

I always had in my mind a song about a woman named Ginny who lives (or lived) on an island off the coast of Maine. I want her to somehow represent someone who is willing to wait for something to return to her. What that something is I am not really sure. I was hoping...
Read More

The March Snow

by | March 11, 2018 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

An early March snow brought down all these branches Cracking and crashing throughout a long night, Piling them impatiently in the yard Like jacksticks in a child’s messy room. The stepladder I used to rake the ridge Stands like an awkward sculpture draped in white...
Read More

China Journal: Part Two

by | July 27, 2015 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

II The grass grows. The rain falls Nothing is done. Nothing is left undone ~Buddha   A day can be perfect. I have to believe this. Today was. Is. Is was a day in china. The sun breaking through today after yesterday’s typhoon. Lazy walk to the coffee shop....
Read More

The Value of a Classic

by | November 24, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

“Classic' - a book which people praise and don't read.” ~Mark Twain A note to my 8th grade class:      All of you are supposedly reading a classic book, but what Twain says is true: few of us go thirsty to the well and willingly read the greatest works of literature...
Read More

A Monday Ramble

by | August 25, 2014 | Journal | 0 Comments

There is always a hard shift for me at the end of the summer, and today is that day for me. I miss the freedom of last week: I'd wake in the morning, come out to the deck to write poetry or work on my novel--but now today, I feel like I should be preparing for school,...
Read More

How do I know

by | July 8, 2017 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

what I know? The sharp angles of this simple cottage perfected in every board sawn, shingle split and beam hewn into place goes together placed, splined, slid together, bound more by intuition than knowing.
Read More

To a teacher

by | November 14, 2019 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

This shift from fall to winterIs the cruelest month:Long days and nightsIn a blather of responsibility’s I hoist from a murky holeAnd sort and siftOn a messy desk. I pity my students who trembleMy red pen of vengeance;Who wait with fetid thoughtsFreighted by what they...
Read More

Life Ain’t Hard; Its Just a Waterfall

by | August 12, 2014 | Fires in the Belly, Songs | 0 Comments

You say, hey,
who are you to say that you’re the one
to go telling me just where I’m coming from.
You can have your cake
but don’t frost me ‘til I’m done.
I can’t be fixed and I can’t afford to stall;
because life ain’t hard it’s just a waterfall.

Read More

Opinie o kasynie online Vavada w roku 2026

by | December 29, 2023 | Journal | 0 Comments

Opinie na temat kasyna online Vavada w roku 2026 Opinie o kasynie online Vavada w roku 2026 Decydując się na rozrywkę w wirtualnym świecie gier, warto zwrócić uwagę na Vavada. Ta platforma przyciąga entuzjastów hazardu z wielu powodów. Wysoka jakość gier oraz...
Read More

How To Be Human

by | July 24, 2015 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

Mark Twain once wrote that it is good to be a good person, but it is better to tell people how to be good--"and a damn sight easier!" So much of my life is lived in response to the moment and not in a practiced and cultivated wisdom. I sat here this morning looking...
Read More

The Philanthropy of Maynard

by | December 13, 2015 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

 I woke up today with chores on my mind. My buddy Josh LoPresti lent me his woodsplitter, and I had dreams of a mindless day splitting wood and heaving it into a pile for my kids to stack along the fence. But the dryer was broken, and it needed to be fixed. Margret's...
Read More

Rambling

by | January 22, 2015 | Journal | 0 Comments

I am sitting here in class while my students write their "daily ramble."  If I have learned anything from teaching it is that kids need the time in class to practice what is preached.  As teachers we can't assign homework and remotely know what is happening at the...
Read More

Somewhere North of Bangor

by | August 12, 2014 | Fires in the Belly, Songs | 0 Comments

Somewhere north of Bangor
on the run from Tennessee.
Lost in back scrub paper land
in section TR-3.
It’s hit him he’s an outlaw
a Georgia cracker’s son,
who killed a man in Nashville
with his daddies favorite gun.
It’s hit him with the loneliness
of wondering where you are
on a long ago railway
stretched between two stars.

Read More

Wrenching Day

by | July 13, 2017 | Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

It has certainly been a long time since wisdom ruled the day. I did get up and run in the rain, and now I am preparing to do some “wrenching” on my motorcycle. I am trying to temper my eagerness to ride with my desire to get everything “right” on the bike--without...
Read More

Weeds

by | August 8, 2014 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

  Somewhere locked in this choke of weeds spread like a mangy carpet is the hardened vine of Pipo’s Concord Grape he planted in an eager spring three years ago. Gasping for air and sun and water perhaps it has found some way to hide from my flailing hoe and the...
Read More

The Inn

by | November 21, 2013 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

Every Thursday, for some thirty years, I have been spending this same time each week wrapping up the loose ends of the day before heading down to the inn to play to whomever and whatever shows up. Tonight looks like a fun night: Maroghini will be with me for his last...
Read More

Kampuchea

by | July 14, 2014 | Poetry, Raccoon | 0 Comments

I stutter for normality across the river from black men fishing for kibbers and horned pout. Barefoot children rounded bellies curled navels stalk the turtle sunning on a log. lonely in the field grass lonely on the curbstones I stutter for normality. Not a mother...
Read More

Capospin: Thrilling Quick‑Play Slots and Games for Fast‑Track Wins

by | March 25, 2026 | Journal | 0 Comments

1. Quick‑Game Fever at CapospinCapospin has carved a niche for players who crave the rush of a spin or a hand, all within a few minutes. The platform’s interface is streamlined so that a newcomer can navigate from the welcome screen to their first bet without a...
Read More

China Journal: Part One

by | July 23, 2015 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

I           The dull staccato throb in light rain on a dark night. Unseen barges make their way up the QianTian River—concrete shores marked by the arch of the bridge, the spans of beam stretched on beam, the impeccable symmetry of the street-lights broken by a stream...
Read More

The Litter in Concord

by | July 12, 2016 | Journal | 0 Comments

I have been following a Facebook thread about the movement in my beloved hometown of Concord to ban plastic water bottles, plastic bags and styrofoam cups. I am trying to discern whether or not my initial responses are pure and true and not simply reactionary and...
Read More

Close Your Eyes and See

by | April 9, 2016 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

      A lot of things in life fall short of the mark, but thoughtfulness has never let me down. For some forty years I have faithfully kept journals of the wanderings of my mind—most of which is lost in some way or another, but the effect hangs on like a sailor...
Read More

Superman

by | August 12, 2014 | Dawghouse, Songs | 0 Comments

There’s a little blonde boy in a superman cape
Racing around the back yard;
Sayin’, “Daddy don’t you know I can fly to the moon;
I’m gonna bring you back some stars.
And after that I’m gonna save the world”
Cause I’m superman today.”
I scoop that boy right into my arms,
And this is what I say:

You don’t need a cape to be a hero
You’ve got all the special powers that you need
Your smile’s enough to save the world from evil
And you’ll always be superman to me

Read More

Reflecting on Literature

by | March 27, 2017 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

I am constantly asking my students (and myself) to reflect on the literature they, and I, read. As I have grown older—and not necessarily wiser—I find myself only reading literature that I am sure will prod me out of my intellectual and emotional torpor, like a lizard...
Read More

Gambloria Casino: Your Mobile Slot Playground for Quick Wins

by | March 25, 2026 | Journal | 0 Comments

Gambloria casino has carved a niche for players who crave instant thrills without the commitment of a marathon session. Whether you’re on a coffee break or waiting for a bus, the platform delivers a punchy gaming experience that satisfies the itch for quick...
Read More

The Teacher’s Couch

by | October 11, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

It’s not just a couch; it’s a sofa, too ~Fitz           I remember my first year teaching at Fenn—and it was really my first stint as a true worker with responsibilities outside of what I already had in my wheelhouse—and on this day, some twenty something years ago, I...
Read More

Let It Snow, Let It Snow…

by | February 2, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

You can't kill time without wounding eternity. ~Henry David Thoreau       Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...but don't let it totally define your day. Most of us see a snow day as an unexpected vacation day, though really what it is could be called "a day of...
Read More

Me & God

by | April 9, 2018 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

        I am not done with God, nor God with me. I remain obsessed with the notion of the unmoved mover who set the pattern of creation into its initial motion. I stubbornly try to trace my existence back to some infinite beginning—so much so that I loathe the...
Read More

The Late and Lazy Teacher

by | May 1, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

I guess this is a good thing. I showed up five minutes late for class, and my classroom was empty. I walked the hallways of the school and could not find any of them. I sheepishly asked the assistant headmaster if he "happened to see a class of wandering boys?"No, he...
Read More

Busy…

by | September 17, 2014 | Journal | 0 Comments

The start of the school year, and I have literally spent every free moment working on what is ostensibly pretty cool stuff, methinks...but it is work in every sense of the word, so I do miss those long summer mornings when  could literally write to my heart and heads...
Read More

Evolution

by | August 19, 2014 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

The coyotes and fisher cats seem intent on striking some new deal with each other to toy with our fears in this gentleman's wilderness— patches of dense woods dotted with overgrown fields, riven and intersected by highways, powerlines and quiet, suburban...
Read More

Joshua Sawyer Podcast

by | November 11, 2017 | Fitz Podcasts, Journal | 0 Comments

Read More

The Most Unoriginal Teacher

by | February 5, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

Yes, that's me. I am a fraudster, thief, and plagiarizer of the worst magnitude. I copy the very styles of classic poets; I steal from Noble Laureate novelists, and I copy words from every and any source I can. And even worse, I steal from myself. If you even dare to...
Read More

Contact John Fitzsimmons...and thanks!