Reading poetry as a spiritual exercise for Lent

"It is difficult/to get the news from poems/yet men die miserably everyday/for lack/of what is found/there." Great poets have their finger on the pulse of their society. 

William Carlos Williams did so, both as a doctor and as a poet. Williams’ poem above continues to ring true–even though he died in 1963–in this second decade of the 21st century because far too many people die both literally and figuratively in their struggle to make sense out of what they experience as living.  

If you are considering spiritual reading for Lent this year, perhaps a small volume of poetry could help you get more out of the upcoming season.  Many people say, “I don’t understand poetry.”  Well, sometimes I don’t either and I am a published poet.   

I often reread beloved poems in order to relish the words and the images. I also want to experience again the feeling I have when I read them rather than try to understand their content.  And that’s what poems do; they share simple, sometimes very painful experiences of what means to be a human being.  They give voice to what we do not have words for.  

In some way, all great poetry is spiritual because it speaks to the spirit in all of us for–as one author put it–poetry is “the path to transcendence.”  Then there is poetry that is explicitly spiritual because it deals with spiritual themes.  I would like to share with you three of my favorite poets and poems you might consider reading this Lent.  

“In the Custody of Words: Poems” by Philip C. Kolin is a very recent discovery.  It is a thin volume that would be an apt companion to use during adoration.  If you do, sit with “The Prayer Lady” or “The Shrouded Air,” for example, and let the words do what silence does best—speak when the heart is ready.  

Consider embracing Holy Week with “Procula’s Tears” or let the poem help you focus on what truly matters as you enter the heart of Good Friday.  Then ponder on the resurrection with the poem “The Shepherd Boy from the Cova.”  On one level, it tells the story of Blessed Francisco Marto, one of the three children who saw our Lady in Fatima, yet on another level it whispers another story: mystery. 

Kolin’s book can be purchased directly from the author at [email protected]

Another of my favorite poets is Denise Levertov, an adult convert to Catholicism.  One of her longer pieces is entitled “Feet” from her collection in “This Great Unknowing: Last Poems,” available from amazon.com or at the library at Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi. It consists of six sections each expressing a different slant on the title.  

One that might help you prepare for Holy Thursday would be Section VI with its image of the washing of feet that flows into the image of fleeing refugees.  Section IV tells of her encounter with a homeless man in his attempt to buy a “$2 special” at a restaurant.  While she raises a question at the end of this section, she avoids moralizing, which allows the reader to wrestle with his or her own conscience.  

Sister Miriam of the Holy Spirit, OCD, aka Jessica Powers, was a cloistered nun in Carmel of the Mother of God in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Before she died in 1988, she had authored seven books of poetry. If the Stations of the Cross is one of your prayer choices, consider incorporating her poem, “The Seventh Station” from “The Place of Splendor,” also available from amazon.com. 

When you pray at this station, you might savor one or two words that catch your attention.  You might be inspired to write your own poem on one or more of the other stations you could use as a prayer.  Even if you use a Stations of the Cross prayer book available in the church, you could gain a fresh insight into Jesus’ journey to Calvary with Sister Miriam’s poem.  

Lent is an invitation for us to step out of our comfort zones. The spiritual exercise of reading poetry by such authors as Philip Kolin, Denise Levertov or Sister Miriam can help us do that. One word of caution though–it could be habit forming.