Thomas Merton Prize in Poetry of the Sacred

I'm so pleased and honored that “Soledad,” a lyric sequence that I co-authored with Elizabeth Savage, was selected by Elizabeth Robinson as the winning poem for the Thomas Merton Prize in Poetry of the Sacred.

Here's the link to the 21st annual Festival of Faiths taking place now in Louisville, KY. Our poem will be performed later today (time tba): Festival of Faiths

Our sequence will be published in the winter issue of Parabola. Here's a sneak peek:

Soledad

In which the sun

as bright as an orb

(which it was)

as sparks flew

or spurs

from disappointment’s—

that was all

as she drove listening

lone survivor

not a song

but a lyric

ran through it

*

When the dead are lost

in the sun—who are you

praying for? once

they blazed a path

once they burned

and the sparks blink

behind in effort

what survives the lyric

some small night

holds wilder nouns

in alien calm

one winter psalm

*

an alien calmness

engulfs an edge

wraps round

the wilder brush

beyond effort’s saving

sparks blind

crush

while stones

like thieves

find the rush

insatiable

and tell lies as lyric’s lost

accomplices

*

accomplices blind

by alien calm

a rap unrushed

a guest that lies

a thief in trust

in hindsight

crushed

if all we strike

breaks to light

*

if all we bend’s

already bent

invisibly

as a node’s nudge

dives down

only to be

caught

in dust

gust

*

bent to tend

low of dusk

sun belies

lyrics rushed

*                                     

this winter song

her lone accomplice

as stars once wished upon

now stare down

on woodland thrush

*

once along sabbath

sun

            startling orb

thrust upon

woodland wished

accomplishment