Presence 2020
Contents
Mary Ann B. Miller Editor's Statement 9
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Carmen Kern on Man 10
FEATURED POETS
Sean Thomas Dougherty Imaginary Death Certificate 12
Imaginary Death Certificate
(perdónanos a todas) 14
Imaginary Death Certificate
for a Blue Parrot 15
Angela Alaimo O’Donnell Flannery’s Prayer 17
Flannery’s Pottage 18
Flannery’s Misfit 19
TRANSLATIONS
William Blair Ask the sun to create your gods
by María Eugenia Vaz Ferreira 20
Laura Chalar Brother Wolf
by Laura Chalar 22
The church
by Julio Herrera y Reissig 23
from Window nocturnes
by Federico García Lorca 24
Joshua Gage The Hand of Fortune
by Lucía Estrada 25
Katherine M. Hedeen from Visitations
& Janet McAdams by Fina García Marruz 26
Karen Kovacik Ars poetica
by Ewa Chruściel 28
Tiger Mother
by Ewa Chruściel 28
Entrance
by Ewa Chruściel 29
Susanna Rich The Mountains’ Straight Reply
by Éva Tóth 31
Not Even Solitude
by Éva Tóth 32
Trees in the River
by Éva Tóth 32
Jacob Riyeff The Ruin
Anonymous (Old English) 34
IN MEMORIAM
Judith Valente on W. S. Merwin 36
Jerry Harp on Clarence H. Miller 38
Judith Valente on Mary Oliver 40
Susan L. Miller on Marie Ponsot 42
Angela Alaimo O’Donnell on Michael D. Riley 43
POETRY
Lori Negridge Allen In the Presence of My Enemies 45
Indran Amirthanayagam Resurrection 46
Ann Applegarth From the Sublime to the
Ridiculous 47
Corliss M. Badeaux Adam Rises 49
Collin Becker The Tree 50
Aaron Brown Christ in the Suburbs 51
Mark S. Burrows Another Sunday Morning 52
Brandon S. Butcher The Seventh Work of Mercy 54
Andrew Calis The Pain of Truth: At a Lecture 56
Neil Carpathios I Don’t Know What to Call This 57
Hannah Carr-Murphy The Naming 58
Ann Cefola Listening for the Freight Train
in San Antonio 59
Martha Collins L’ultimo viaggio 60
Paola Corso Praying the Steps 62
Susan Cowger Go Ahead Do It 64
Brad Davis A Carol 65
Peggy R. Ellsberg October Night 66
Tyler Farrell Postcard to Frank O’Hara 67
Linda Nemec Foster The Syrian Woman in the
Refugee Camp 68
Jane Greer Her Green Desire 69
Nathaniel Lee Hansen 5:30 a.m. on the Highway 52
Trail 70
Samuel Hazo By Chance 71
Gloria Heffernan Prayer in the Detergent Aisle 72
Maeve Henry Say I Am Right 73
Thomas Holahan, CSP Notre Dame Aflame 74
Jefferson Holdridge The Franciscan Hills 75
Eva Mary Hooker, CSC Ghost-bird, I 76
Brent House 07292019 77
Madeline Infantine Good Friday at Immaculata 78
Richard Jones The White Road 79
Tina Kelley Epithalamion for Jesus and
the Springfield Community
Church 80
Laurie Kolp The Blue Sequin 81
Karen Kovacik Globos del deseo 82
Sarah Law Everything is Grace 84
Cameron Alexander When You Asked Where I Saw
Lawrence Myself in the Story 85
Owen Lewis More on Road Kill 86
Laurinda Lind Creation Text 87
Nick Maione One Word 88
Jennifer Martelli I Address My Catho-alcoholism 89
Janet McCann Guilt 90
Annabelle Moseley The Weight of Resurrection 91
Madeleine Mysko Pietà 93
Stephen Nakrosis St. Peter 94
Kathleen O’Toole Asheville Horarium 95
Stephen Paling Reading Thomas Merton with
a Lawn Mower in the
Background 96
Richard Pierce After the Fast 97
Susan Blackwell Ramsey Irish Festival 98
Greg Rappleye The Feast of St. Blaise 100
Skip Renker How to Play the Prayer Game 101
Ann Ritter The Whistler 102
Brian Ascalon Roley Pulmonary Fibrosis 103
Maria Rouphail Dreaming of My Father 105
J. C. Scharl Relic 106
Jeff Schiff The Jewish Mayan 107
Alessandra Simmons The Naturalist Prays to
the Virgin 108
Judith Sornberger Testament 109
Catherine Stansfield Our One Hundredth First
Dance 110
Marjorie Stelmach Monday 111
Emily Stoddard On Tilt 113
Sally Thomas The Hermit’s Holy Saturday 115
Don Thompson Compline Without Peace 116
John J. Trause The Gangsta Hail Mary 117
Carolyne Wright I Forgive 118
INTERVIEWS
Nancy Enright Faith, Doubt, Humor and
Grace: an Interview with
Poet Christian Wiman 119
Philip C. Kolin The Long Search for That
Elusive Christ-centered Vision:
an Interview with Biographer
and Poet Paul Mariani 126
BOOK REVIEWS
Steven Knepper Formal Salutations
by William Baer 138
Anthony Domestico 3 Nights of the Perseids
by Ned Balbo 140
Judith Valente Doe
by Susan Baller-Shepard 143
Jefferson Holdridge Every Tongue Confess
by David Craig 146
Janet McCann The Book of Kells
by Barbara Crooker 149
MaryAnn L. Miller The Baobab Room
by Père Jacques de Foïard-
Brown with Marilyn Nelson 151
Margaret Rozga Ceremonial Entries
by Joseph DeRoche 153
Alan Berecka Praise Music
by D. G. Geis 156
Susan Lembo Balik What My Father Taught Me
by Maria Giura 158
Tina Kelley Mostly Luck
by Lorraine Healy 161
Billy Middleton Reaching Forever
by Philip C. Kolin 163
Joel Allegretti The Story of Ash
by Gerry LaFemina 167
Jessica G. de Koninck Intersection on Neptune
by Donna J. Gelagotis Lee 169
Rosa Mirna Sánchez Memoria
by Orlando Ricardo Menes 172
Maryanne Hannan Down in the White of the Tree
by Tim J. Myers 174
Arthur Powers Crucial Blue
by Madeleine Mysko 177
Danielle Davey Stulac Dreaming of Stones
by Christine Valters
Paintner 179
J. D. Schraffenberger Gravity Assist
by Martha Silano 182
Cydnee Devereaux The Small Door of Your Death
by Sheryl St. Germain 185
Susan Delaney Spear Evensong for Shadows
by Shanna Powlus Wheeler 187
Karen Ullo The Hanging God
by James Matthew Wilson 189
LIFE’S WORK
Paul Connell Alden Nowlan: Poetry as
Gratitude for Being 192
Angela Alaimo O’Donnell Apprentice to Beauty: The
Poetic Legacy of
Michael D. Riley 204
POETS’ BIOGRAPHIES 215