First Things RSS Feed - Catherine Chandler https://www.firstthings.com/author/catherine-chandler en-us Copyright 2025 First Things. All Rights Reserved. ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) Mon, 20 Jan 2025 16:53:15 -0500 https://d2201k5v4hmrsv.cloudfront.net/img/favicon-196.png First Things RSS Feed Image https://www.firstthings.com/rss/author/catherine-chandler 60 Votive https://www.firstthings.com/article/2018/11/votive https://www.firstthings.com/article/2018/11/votive Thu, 01 Nov 2018 00:00:00 -0400 Saint Joseph’s Oratory, Montreal.
Between the crypt and dark magmatic rock
of the mountain’s flank, along a blue-domed hall
one hundred four feet long, I slowly walk.
Ex-votos hanging on the chapel wall—
canes and crutches—testify en bloc
 to gratitude and grace. This same motif
repeats in eight imposing bas-reliefs.

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]]> When https://www.firstthings.com/article/2013/10/when https://www.firstthings.com/article/2013/10/when Tue, 01 Oct 2013 00:00:00 -0400 For man also knoweth not his time.
(Ecclesiastes)

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]]> The Red Beads: At the Maldonado Flea Market, Uruguay https://www.firstthings.com/article/2013/02/the-red-beads-at-the-maldonado-flea-market-uruguay https://www.firstthings.com/article/2013/02/the-red-beads-at-the-maldonado-flea-market-uruguay Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0500 Among the pipes and pulleys, sacks and seeds,
there is a necklace made of crimson beads.
Great care was taken that it catch the eye
of plain-clad fernandinas passing by
the Sunday market stalls and sundry shops
where needs and wants diverge. A woman stops.

She holds the necklace to her collar, asks
the price, then gently puts it down and masks
her disappointment with a repartee ”
Demasiado lindo para mí.
Too nice. Yet, homeward-bound, she’ll look again
and hope no one has bought it.
Now and then,
a thing of beauty must be bargained for,
though all it graces is a dresser drawer.

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]]> Eleven https://www.firstthings.com/article/2011/02/eleven https://www.firstthings.com/article/2011/02/eleven Tue, 01 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0500 players on a soccer team
stars in Joseph’s second dream


odd reversible and prime
dimensions (counting space and time)


pipers piping salt (Na)
month day hour Veteran’s Day


goat’s hair curtains ripped apart
ounce-weight of the human heart


twelve less Judas David’s men
pearls and tears from Swinburne’s pen


heartbreak (on a scale of ten)

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]]> Kyrielle https://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/06/kyrielle https://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/06/kyrielle Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0400 For moments when they questioned me
and I replied indifferently,
or wished I’d practiced birth control,
may God have mercy on my soul.

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