Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry

25/07/2024

"Scent / sharply human, sweat of the labor / of staying alive ... / ... / ... Her gold / the fragrance of her dying son's breath. / It clings to the amygdala, refuting death." J.C. Todd, "Marigold" in Presence 2024

24/07/2024

In his review of Sean Thomas Dougherty's Death Prefers the Minor Keys, Carl M. Jenks observes that this slim volume is "filled with grief and suffering. And yet in spite of everything it spills over with grace and empowerment. It is a diminutive handbook for survival in a world that can be cruel." -- Read the full review in Presence 2024

20/07/2024

"Even if the sky were burning - /... .../ I would hold the night as we hold // Our books, as books hold us all. / Even then. Even if we knew or had / Forgotten or had then felt forgotten. // Even then. Even if all was known. Yes, / Even then, I would read to the night / As the night reads to us. Yet. Even then." - CX Dillhunt, "After Reading Psalm 31" in Presence 2024

16/07/2024

"Accepting and healing the incessant divisions in life, made even deeper and more cutting by love, is Davis's life work as mother, nurse, and human being. She grapples beautifully with paradox, which she summons and explores in every poem in Daughter, 'while I balanced in my hands Joy and Fear, cradling them both/ until the bleeding stopped.'" --from Sheila O'Connor-Ambrose's review of Daughter by Courtney Davis in Presence 2024

12/07/2024

"I was young. / Kept stepping off the ledge / into clouds heavy with possibility. / I no longer thought to ask / if God would catch me." - Kyle Potvin, "How To Be Fearless" in Presence 2024

09/07/2024

"The sadness of losing a father to dementia sits beside, and sometimes haunts, the poet's ability to be in conversation with the various elemental places she perceives as suffused by mysterious beauty. This is a poet who trusts that natural landscapes still have something new to teach her..." -from Jane McCafferty's review of Navigating the Reach by Mary Buchinger in Presence 2024.

05/07/2024

"But this isn't about money and class, / or post-war American history, / it's about music - the rage, and the faith, / and gruff beauty one man can contain / in his voice" - John Bargowski in Presence 2024

02/07/2024

Two new collections; twice the reading pleasure! From Mia Schilling Grogan's review of both in Presence 2024: "In Taking Root in the Heart: A Collection of Thirty-Four Poets from The Christian Century, the reader feels welcomed by editor Jill Peláez Baumgaertner into a sort of literary salon where she has gathered poet friends she would like you to meet or to know better....[Christian Poetry in America Since 1940, edited by Micah Mattix and Sally Thomas is an anthology] to give to anyone who needs convincing that Christian poetry has been thriving in America; it will also be a volume that I and others who teach poetry in college or high school classrooms...will be happy to share with our students."

28/06/2024

"The black whole of love swallows me. / It's not just a sprinkle of water / On a burgeoning garden. It's a cross / Drawn across the forehead at baptism, / A doorway into myself that I chose / To open to the infinite. I sit, hands folded, / Calling to God, from a great distance." - Trina Gaynon, "The Whole of It" in Presence 2024

26/06/2024

"Throughout, Beasley expresses his love for the world as a 'wounded text' and portrays language as 'a torn hymnal, ripped sheet/music...'('And Though This World Should Threaten to Undo'). This is deep apophatic theology..." (Claire Bateman reviews Prayershreds by Bruce Beasley in Presence 2024)

24/06/2024

What a joy to launch Presence 2024 with an in-person reading in NYC this past weekend! Poets read their own work and chose another favorite poem from the issue to share. Mary Ann Miller introduced the line-up featuring Kate Deimling, David Thoreen, Fr. Frank Desiderio, Maria Te***ne, Jana-Lee Germaine, Angela Alaimo O'Donnell, Margaret Mackinnon, Andrew Lustig, Fr. Tom Holohan, Paul Jaskunas. Thanks to all for an evening of wonderful readings and conversations!

11/04/2024

Join Presence, Relief, Whale Road Review, and Fare Forward for a ONE POET ONE POEM poetry reading tonight, 7:00 pm at Pietro’s Italian Restaurant. See image for location.

03/04/2024

Announcing Presence 2024! Featuring Dana Gioia’s libretto FIAT LUX, celebrating the dedication of Christ Cathedral, Catholic Diocese of Orange County, California! See our bio for a link to our website. View the entire table of contents under the “Issues” tab at the top of the homepage. You can also find a “Purchase” tab at the top of the home page too!

25/03/2024

During this Holy Week, consider these words by Shanna Powlus Wheeler in her poem "Easter Greeting," up today at WPSU's Poetry Moment!

WPSU's Poetry Moment features poet Shanna Powlus Wheeler and her poem 'Easter Greeting.'

21/03/2024

Mia Schilling Grogan’s review of Jill Pelaez Baumgaertner’s From Shade to Shine in Presence 2023: “In the communal spirit that is the essence of liturgy, Baumgaertner welcomes the reader to this practice of the living, to join her in the praise that is the ‘work of the people’”.

15/02/2024

“Page after page, poem after poem, Gun / Shy is loaded with sharp words, piercing images and spot on narratives that hit their mark. Nothing is spared. Everyone is in range.” (Paola Corso reviews Jim Daniels in Presence 2023)

10/02/2024

Six Friday highlights from Presence’s table: Jen Grace Stewart, Paul Jaskunas, Linda Nemec Foster, KT Landon, Vivian Bikulege and Richard Pierce. Thank you all for your support and conversation!!

09/02/2024

Presence’s postcards are here! To all those who stopped by on Thursday—please stop back by and pick up one. To others: come see us!! Many thanks to poet Tina Kelley who connected me with Kenneth Hart (NYU) who brought them with him on his flight! Journals are truly a community effort!

08/02/2024

“The poet channels a monastic voice of old Ireland, offering a penetrating shorthand of a central theological mystery: ‘Faith is something like the sea,’ the poet observes, ‘gnawing and withdrawing, or something like the moon / when clouds part, then thicken again.’”
(Michael P. Murphy reviewing John F. Deane in Presence 2023)

07/02/2024

Visit Presence staff and contributors at T1135! We are very much looking forward to talking with you this weekend!

26/01/2024

Please join Presence Journal in welcoming Caldwell University student intern Tilak Datta to our staff this spring! Tilak is a junior English major minoring in Pre-Law. He is on the Cross Country and Track and Field teams and has extensive experience in social media work for his high school teams! Tilak will be posting some of Presence’s poems and excerpts from book reviews as well as video/audios of poets reading their poems from the issues.

29/12/2023

Between Christmas and New Year's is the perfect time to read/listen to this thought-provoking poem by Presence contributor Mia Grogan, inspired by images coming out of Ukraine. Here's "The Road to Bethlehem," up at WPSU's Poetry Moment on Christmas Day.

WPSU's Poetry Moment features poet Mia Grogan and her poem "The Road to Bethlehem."

24/11/2023

Announcing Presence’s 2023 nominations to Orison Books’ Best Spiritual Literature 2024 anthology: Jeanine Hathaway’s “A Story of Relics,” Matthew E. Henry’s “Say pity is not action, is not love,” Riley Kross’s “The Uncounted Hour of Prayer,” Remi Recchia’s “From Psalm 30,” and Melanie Weldon-Soiset’s “Perichoresis: Divine Choreography.” We thank these poets for making us think about our faith in new and unexpected ways!

24/11/2023

Announcing Presence’s Pushcart nominations from our 2023 issue! We thank these wonderful poets for entrusting us with their fine work! KB Ballentine’s “Every Direction is Grace,” Peter Caccavari’s “The Tongue is Also a Fire,” Rachel E. Hicks’s “By Degrees,” Candice Kelsey’s “That Girl Drinks Grape Soda,” Jane McCafferty’s “In the Diner,” and Matthew Richards’s “Hospitality.”

23/10/2023

04/10/2023

Meet us at Loyola University Chicago for “Poets of Presence: Faith, Form, & Forging Community” on October 27-28, 2023!

The conference will feature panels and workshops exploring how poetry navigates the intersection of matter and spirit, depicts the struggle between belief and doubt, and engages faith with surprise, joy and humor.

Keynote speaker: Christian Wiman

Also featuring: Angela Alaimo O'Donnell, Mary Ann B. Miller, Susan L. Miller, Paul J. Pastor, Jeannine M. Pitas and Mark S. Burrows

The event is sponsored by The Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage, The Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies, and Presence Journal.

More details here: https://www.luc.edu/ccih/conferences/archive/poetsofpresenceconference.shtml

03/10/2023

Will you join me? Registration information in the Comments.