Hope and Holiness

My regular updates when on hiatus during most of the summer, while I spent a few weeks in Houston running the wonderful Summer Literary programs there, including our Summer Writers Institute, Summer Literary Series, and the MFA Residency. Nearly every night, I welcomed some talented guest to the stage to read or lecture and, most of the time, also to offer seminars to our graduate students. It was incredible, but exhausting. In the lead up to the series, I wrote a great deal of new work, which has been slowly appearing, but only now have I had a chance to begin collecting it for the faithful, or casual, reader.

This may be a bit of an overload, but here we go. In Ad Fontes, you'll find one of two recent sesta rima poems I have published: "The Heart Would Make Itself Known." In The Catholic Thing, I revisit the theological virtue of hope as Benedict XVI explored it; Benedict offers a devastating critique of the modern age, one that we should all heed. National Review published my review of Zina Hitz's latest book, A Philosopher Looks at the Religious Life, and First Things has just published my short review of Dana Gioia's latest collection of poems. Speaking of Dana Gioia, I recommended his work and that of four other contemporary poets during my interview with Five Books for Catholics. I think the interview went well beyond a mere booklist to help the interested reader discern why poetry is something work thinking about. It occurs to me that I did not ever make notice of another interview I did this year, for Presence, and so I've included a pdf version of the print issue here; I got to share a great deal of my thoughts, all grateful, for the blessing of the MFA program I direct. Finally, printed below, please find "From The Awful Disclosers of Maria Monk," a poem that ran in this summer's issue of The Lamp.

I have some exciting work in criticism coming out shortly and when that appears, I'll provide another of these updates. In the meantime, I would beg the interested reader to follow me on social media, as I will have three major updates between now and next April, as during that span I'll be publishing three new books. People don't stay tuned anymore, but perhaps they scroll by frequently. Click the icons below to read any and all of these new works.

"The Heart Would Make Itself Known"

Review of Dana Gioia's "Meet Me at the Lighthouse"

"Superstitions of Progress"

Interview: "Contemporary American Poets Every Catholic Should Read"

"The Hidden Life"

Interview: "To Dwell Poetically in the World"