Andrew J. Calis
POETRY
Vividness and Music
For as long as I can remember, poetry captivated me: the sounds, the rhythm of the lines, the playfulness, the power and beauty. It was a sort of holy thing -- indescribable and incomprehensible, even as it moved me with its vividness and music. I loved it through my high school and college years when I was the poetry editor for the school's literary magazine during an award-winning year. I am still swept up by it now, editing submissions for Dappled Things and Convivium. And I'm fortunate to spend a considerable part of my a day teaching it, waking students to its liveliness and wonder.
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I’m glad you’re here and I hope you’ll introduce yourself!
A sidewalk there is still stained with his blood.
Through metered poetry and a focus on sound and image, Pilgrimages traces a journey to God and self-knowledge via the side streets, stumbles, and uncertainties of the human experience. The poems in this volume explore the difficulties and burdens of life, softened by the solace of faith. Despite moments of desperation and failure, there is endless hope and beauty found in divine love.
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"The poetry of Andrew Calis is sacramental in the truest sense: it radiates gold from a heart of invisible mystery. With all the intensity of Hopkins, he layers light on light in hopes of helping us to see."
-- James Matthew Wilson, poetry editor, Modern Age