Angela Alaimo O’Donnell reads a selection of her poetry as Jim Rogers and Maryann Corbett listen and prepare to do the same Oct. 1 at a special “Three Catholic Poets” event at St. Albert the Great in Minneapolis. JOE RUFF | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
“He dies, he comes back to life, and he’s a good sport about it,” said poet Angela Alaimo O’Donnell as she introduced her poem, “St. Lazarus.”
With O’Donnell reading, the poem began: “He knit him self up, a cable-stitch of skin. Pushed his left eye in its socket, then his right. Cracked the knuckles in his fingers (now so thin!). Raised himself from the dirt and stood up right.”
And so began an evening of poetry at St. Albert the Great in Minneapolis Oct. 1 centered on saints, sacraments, prayer and everyday Catholic life from three published poets who are friends, two from St. Paul, one from New York City. The evening was dubbed “Three Catholic Poets.”
They read from their works in front of the altar. O’Donnell is a professor of English, creative writing and American Catholic Studies at Fordham University in New York. Jim Rogers is a retired director of the Center for Irish Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, who pulled the team together. Maryann Corbett, a member of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul who is an alto in the parish choir, has a doctorate in English and spent nearly 35 years helping Minnesota lawmakers write laws in plain English.
More than 50 people — most older than 60 — took in their words for more than an hour, relaxed and
contemplative. In a hurried world, it was a moment of peace and community, said Rob Wicker, a member of St. Cecilia in St. Paul who knows St. Albert the Great’s pastor, Dominican Father Joe Gillespie.
Maryann Corbett reads a poem Oct. 1 at St. Albert the Great in Minneapolis. JOE RUFF | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
“Listening to poetry is when you just sit down and let it roll over you,” Wicker said. “These days everything moves so quickly, maybe people aren’t willing to do that. They are busy with families, with their phones.”
Poetry’s power stems from the images it can evoke, the beauty of rhyme and meter, its concentrated language that puts order to “the chaos of human experience,” said O’Donnell, a member of the Jesuit-run Fordham University parish community. O’Donnell, Corbett and Rogers said they write about many topics, but it’s not uncommon for their poems to center on, or be colored by, the tradition, stories, values, humor and richness of the Catholic faith.
Father Gillespie said St. Albert is open to hosting similar professional, artistic events. It has held religious music gatherings, for example, and jazz concerts in the summer. “A church ought to be used for such things,” Father Gillespie said. “It’s not just a place for people to come on Sunday.”
Jim Rogers recites from his works of poetry. JOE RUFF | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Rogers, who has two published books of poetry and a book on cemeteries and sacred spaces, read the first poem he ever had published, titled “St. Blase.” The poem imagines the saint saving a boy from a fish bone caught in his throat. “‘A miracle!’ the mother blubbered, ‘You got here just in time!’ Blase shrugged and made no remark, though he considered telling the mother, You can’t imagine how much happens ‘just in time’ — that God, in fact, had stitched this moment into the knit of events since the heavens were still dark. But he said nothing. Saints know miracles are common as fishbones.”
Corbett, author of five books of poetry, reflected on prayer in her poem, “On Singing the Exultet,” which is the Easter proclamation of the resurrection of the Lord. The poem begins:
“It’s candlelight that makes it possible. How otherwise could you, with your puny pipes, expect to do this? yell to the end of space — where air can’t carry sound — and order the nebulae Exult? But here you are: you’re going to dare it. Against all probability, you ascend the steps, up to the pulpit, clutching your candle, and look into the faces.”
O’Donnell, author of nine books of poetry, ends her poem on St. Lazarus with a meditation on the miracle of resurrection:
“He licks his lips and wags his muscled tongue. Flexes each foot till the warm blood comes. Turns from the darkness and moves toward the sun. A step. A shamble. A dead-out run.”
Editor’s note: Poems are quoted as published.
MIRACLE OF CONNECTION
Maryann Corbett, 71, and Jim Rogers, 68, said they have known each other since they were young parents attending St. Mark in St. Paul. Only later did they connect through poetry. Corbett and Rogers got to know Angela Alaimo O’Donnell through literary and academic circles. O’Donnell’s son Charles attended St. John’s University in Collegeville and now lives in St. Paul. O’Donnell, 61, was in the Twin Cities Oct. 1 to visit her son and his family and attend the baptism of her granddaughter, Cora Louise. Noting the opportunity, Rogers arranged for all three to read their poetry together Oct. 1.
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