Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Good Letters

Home
Catholic

Poetry Friday

Select a Category A. G. Harmon Alissa Wilkinson Allison Backous Art Authors Brad Fruhauff Bradford Winters Bryan Bliss Caroline Langston Chad Thomas Johnston Chris Hoke Christiana N. Peterson Culture D.G. Myers D.L. Mayfield Daniel Bowman Jr. David Griffith Elizabeth Duffy Faith Film Greg Wolfe Guest Contributor Interview Jan Vallone Jeffrey Overstreet Jessica Eddings-Roeser Jessica Mesman Griffith Kelly Foster Lindsey Crittenden Morgan Meis music Natalie Vestin Nick Olson Peggy Rosenthal Personal Reflection Poetry Friday Reflection Relationships Review Richard Chess Richard Cole Sara Zarr Shannon Huffman Polson Sonya Bilocerkowycz Tania Runyan Tony Woodlief Topical Categories Uncategorized Vic Sizemore Writing

Select a Month October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 February 2008

October 2018

October 12, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Lord, Sky”

The compelling narrative of “Lord, Sky,” set during the time of an election, is also...

October 05, 2018

Poetry Friday: “The Burned Butterfly”

My oldest daughter’s was gifted a butterfly garden for her 3rd birthday. We watched the...

September 2018

September 28, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Bird on Knee”

Like Emily Dickinson, Bray describes hope as thing with feathers, “an eastern phoebe.” Turning on...

September 21, 2018

Poetry Friday: “The Ordinary Time”

According to the Church’s liturgical calendar, this is the twenty-fourth week of Ordinary Time, the...

September 14, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Field”

Spoiler alert: here is a poem that purports to describe a vision of heaven but...

August 2018

August 31, 2018

Poetry Friday:
Your Face Has Always Been Peppered With Moles

Charleston’s poem is a piece of contrasts: youth and age, sugar and spice, consumption and...

August 24, 2018

Poetry Friday: A Quick Interpretation of the Sixth Seal

End times? Friends in the evangelical world talk seriously about the Rapture. Our world is...

August 17, 2018

Poetry Friday: Raven

Poet Anya Krugovoy Silver passed away on Monday, August 6, in Macon, Georgia, at forty-nine....

July 2018

July 20, 2018

Poetry Friday: “The Egg of Anything”

In examining her simple subject, Bohince expands the scope of an egg. The poem’s title,...

July 13, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Some Small Bone”

One of a writer’s greatest challenges is to create a short piece that is in...

June 2018

June 22, 2018

Poetry Friday: “I Loved You Before I Was Born”

In clear, resonate language, Li-Young Lee celebrates longing in his poem “I Loved You Before...

May 2018

May 25, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Post-Miracle”

Ashley Wong’s poem “Post-Miracle” begins with empathy for the hard-hearted: “I understand now how the...

May 18, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Salt Wife”

Lot’s wife, or what’s left of her, stands in the barren wilderness outside Sodom waiting...

May 11, 2018

Poetry Friday: “are you my god”

It has been years since I read the Narnia books, but the phrase I remember...

May 04, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Shortnin’ Bread”

We sang it, too. In 1961, Mr. D taught our fourth grade music class folk...

April 2018

April 20, 2018

Poetry Friday: “The Years Were Patient with Me”

I love this poem because it mirrors the passing of time, patiently guiding readers through...

April 13, 2018

Poetry Friday: “The Sea Here, Teaching Me”

Moira Linehan’s powerful poem scarcely needs commentary; “The Sea Here, Teaching Me” becomes the experience...

April 06, 2018

Poetry Friday: “To Begin With”

Wakefield’s poem presents the metaphor of a peach as the speaker’s body: “I’ll let the...

March 2018

March 30, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Manifest, by Reason of Birth”

Throughout her poetry, Pattiann Rogers observes and describes the natural world with profound detail, compassion,...

March 23, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Being the Song”

If you write poetry, odds are you don’t expect your work to achieve acclaim like...

March 16, 2018

Poetry Friday: “God Reads the Poem of the World with Interest”

How to image good and evil? It’s hard to do in a way that astounds...

March 09, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Early Morning on the B Line From Vero Beach to Orlando After a Poetry Festival”

Wilkinson welcomes us into his poem with ease and familiarity, referencing “Sean” and “Jens” like...

March 02, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Salt Wife”

On a tactile level, we are reminded of the common experience of salt in this...

February 2018

February 23, 2018

Poetry Friday: “The Preacher Addresses the Seminarians” by Christian Wiman

I once met a beer-guzzling goat like the one in Wiman’s poem. His name was...

February 16, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Buried Treasure”

Literary reader of faith: I urge you now, as I’ve urged friends, students, and anyone...

February 09, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Relic”

They say the flu circulating this season begins with the sensation of having swallowed a...

February 02, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Prodigal”

Jones’ poem “Prodigal” welcomes us into an inviting family scene. We can easily visualize the...

January 2018

January 26, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Graveyard Prayer”

Robert Cording’s prose poem reminds me of my late Aunt Mary, who, at roughly the...

January 19, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Sometimes I Am Permitted”

On my first reading of this poem, I felt disoriented by all the non sequiturs,...

January 19, 2018

Poetry Friday: “The Music before the Music”

It is often hard to find the language to describe the sounds and impact of...