‘No Worst’ No worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief, More pangs will, schooled at forepangs, wilder wring. Comforter, where, where is your comforting? Mary, mother of us, where is your relief? My cries heave, herds-long; huddle in a main, a chief- Woe, wórld-sorrow; on an áge-old ánvil wínce and síng– Then lull, … More A Retreat with Hopkins: Good Friday
Any criticism at all which depresses you to the extent that you feel you cannot ever write anything worth anything is from the Devil and to subject yourself to it is for you an occasion of sin. In you the talent is there and you are expected to use it. Whether the work itself is … More Writing Tip from Flannery O’Connor
How often do you think about Luke Skywalker? Maybe just when a new rumor comes out along with a picture of a bearded Mark Hamill. Or only when you brush past that dusty box of the unaltered trilogy on VHS that you still have even though you don’t have a player. Or maybe you just … More Heroism of the Little Moments
I was on a plane holding back tears. I came to Ron Hansen’s Exiles knowing every character would die. It is a book about a shipwreck, a book about a famous poem memorializing the deaths of five nuns in that shipwreck. I knew Hopkins would die. But in that moment when the first nun was … More “I am Happy, so Happy”: Remembering Father Gerard
