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In Midwinter

Long and lean and sharp of tooth comes winter in its chill,Deep and void the nights become, the wind grows fierce and shrill.Time seems slowed to crawl by all the darkness and the cold,Rights and feasts and vigils mark traditions from of old.Frosty air brings misery to those who walk abroad,Many sit . . . . Continue Reading »

In Rare Form

Devotions by timothy murphy north dakota state, 192 pages, $24.95 Not a knee is padded in Timothy Murphy’s new collection. This is no minor point, considering that knee remains for the length of the volume perpetually bent and on the floor. Like the poet himself, these ­poems—religious . . . . Continue Reading »

Nones on Sunday

One day I woke up and became a None;It gave me lots more time to think and pray.I’d think about bad things religion’s done,And pray that God would now see things my way.I wasn’t like those numskulls who believedAlmighty God did not per se exist.I mainly just preferred to be relievedFrom Sunday . . . . Continue Reading »

Votive

Saint Joseph’s Oratory, Montreal.Between the crypt and dark magmatic rockof the mountain’s flank, along a blue-domed hallone hundred four feet long, I slowly walk.Ex-votos hanging on the chapel wall—canes and crutches—testify en blocto gratitude and grace. This same motifrepeats in . . . . Continue Reading »

The Banality of Evil

“Evil is ‘thought-defying,’ because thought tries to reach some depth, to go to the roots, and the moment it concerns itself with evil, it is frustrated because there is nothing. That is its ‘banality.’”—Hannah Arendt “That corpse you planted last year in your . . . . Continue Reading »

Dr. Mumford

Good Dr. Mumford was an atheist;He didn’t really understand the Creed.But as a cautious-minded scientist,He thought it would be very wise indeedTo make completely sure (per Pascal’s Wager)That there was nothing in this Catholic bosh;And so he locked his doors, turned off his pager,And settled . . . . Continue Reading »

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