The great poet of the Caribbean, Derek Walcott, passed away at home on his native island of St. Lucia on March 17. It is hard to summarize his achievement. He wrote more than twenty books of poetry, most notably Omeros (1990), which transplants the Trojan War to the Caribbean fishing world . . . . Continue Reading »
Narrow the house may be and poor,But should it be where you will stay,Then I will want for nothing more.Entreat me not to go away. Your bread shall be my bread, your prayerShall be my prayer. And always knowThat though you go I know not where,Gladly I follow where you go. —Thomas . . . . Continue Reading »
As lovely as a girl aged twenty-twocan be—intelligent, slim, self-possessed,and beautiful. It’s Florida; it’s newto her, like marriage. Smiling, smartly dressed, she poses, shaded by a palm, besidea terra cotta jar. The honeymoonhas just begun, the cattleya fresh, the bridestill radiant. . . . . Continue Reading »
Some time ago I was in a confessional booth whenThere was a moment I never experienced before orSince. It was a lovely terrible haunting moment andI continue to think there was something wonderfullyHoly about it. We’d paused in our conversation, thePriest and me, and then he covered his face with . . . . Continue Reading »
The town’s dilapidated LaundromatIs packed this morning with a crowd of menAnd women, hauling bulky laundry sacks—A full month’s worth, in fact. It’s Saturday,The last one of the month, the day when allThe members of our church’s outreach teamProvide the rolls of quarters so that . . . . Continue Reading »
My Students Two hundred kids bussed to the March for Life. Worried husband and wifewonder are they securely chaperoned? Their mental muscles tonedby Scripture, Confirmation, the Sacraments and King . . . . Continue Reading »
A cinematic poem in seven stanzas, Paterson proves a man in himself is a city. Continue Reading »
In Death Comes for the War Poets, Joseph Pearce poses anew the questions of life, death, and humanity that haunted the poets of the Great War. Continue Reading »
Requiescat in pace, Father Jacques HamelMartyred at the church of St. Étienne,Named for the first martyr. Before Pure Will he bows so reverently,His captive mind conformed to prison sheikh Electric monitor around his wristCan’t leash the lust of teenage liberté. Straps faux explosives, . . . . Continue Reading »
Iniquity, O Lord, can be delicious:always in season, always tender, sweet,blushing, and aromatic. Not capriciousit always hangs low, begging us to eat.One night, I stripped a neighbor’s tree of pears—not grade A pears, but seconds grown for swine—taking them not because the fruit was . . . . Continue Reading »
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