Two New Books You Need to Read

Catholic World Report has just published the latest installment on my ongoing series of studies of contemporary Catholic writers.  Even those with little interest in verse will benefit from encountering the work of these two adept metrical poets whose work reflect the political rage of our time and also a sense of abiding goodness in and beyond the lip of this world. (Click the picture to read the essay.)

Timothy Murphy died just over a week ago, a poet about whom I'd written in The Weekly Standard, but also one to whom I'd promised a more substantial essay on his work, one that would define it for the age.  I wanted that to happen before he passed away; the sheer bulk of his writing defied me.  I have a one foot pile of his manuscripts, some of which were bound at home, some of which were published, sitting by me as I write this, and I know that there are at least three other books that I have tucked away somewhere, at least drafts of them he sent unasked.  A proper tribute to this prolific, human and lovable, but uneven poet will be forthcoming.

For the moment, however, I invite you to enjoy with me the work of two younger talents with whom Murphy would have felt immediate kinship.

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