Description
Book SynopsisThe lives of the saints take place all around us, under us, so much of the earth they seethe in it. This book brings the author's voice to the meditative tradition. It presents poems that trace the spiritual inquiries of a series of linked personae adrift in bodies and a world made toxic by the residues of scientific experimentation.
Trade Review"The beauty of this work lies in its intricate interweaving of medieval voices with modern voices, of ancient times with our times, of archetypal story with news story. This is no loose batch of poems, but a single work made from interrelated poems. The multi-voiced chorus recites—in soul-shuddering and very real terms—the terrors of our own times."
* Women's Review of Books *
"The richness of The Lives of the Saints eludes description..At its best, what [it] is about is the breaking of one realm into another, and this it exemplifies with rare intelligence and a language as passionate and clear as lived faith once must have been."
* Water-Stone *
"A definite must for anyone interested in interwoven styles and themes, not to mention carefully crafted poems that resonate with not only great beauty but power and wit as well..Paola's poems deserve to be admired: a good book to hide inside the torn-off cover of a hymnal while at church."
* The Adirondack Review *
"Suzanne Paola's collection reveals an amazing mind. Her words flow in their own directions, bringing insight, taking us on arcane journeys to familiar places suddenly redolent with new understanding. This is devotional poetry of a new sort."
* Salem Statesman-Journal *
Table of ContentsPrologue
The Lives of the Saints
The First Letter of St. Paul to the Clones
Blessed Ludovica Albertoni
The Second Letter of St. Paul on the Human Genome Project
Patient 6
The First Letter of St. Paul to the Columbines
Caterinati
The Third Letter of St. Paul at the Playground
The Lives of the Saints II; Rosette
The First Letter of St. Paul in the Homogocene
Notes
Acknowledgments
