Poem: Lamentations Road
Lamentations Road By Patrick T. Reardon Lamentations Road runs past Judge Westcott’s mansion, out to Weed Hollow where a dead mule rots, a pestilence of flies, while [...]
[[[Secret book review: “P is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever: All the letters that misbehave and make words nearly impossible to pronounce” by Raj Haldar and Chris Carpenter]]]
Emma, this book review is for you, but don’t tell your Mom and Dad. They’d probably get all worried that a book like P is for Pterodactyl will ruin your [...]
Poem: “Make”
Make By Patrick T. Reardon In summer, the father grilled hot dogs with his white t-shirt off, skin burning. In fall, he tolled novenas. After [...]
Book review: “Josephus’ ‘The Jewish War’ ” by Martin Goodman
The odds are that you don’t have a copy of the Jewish War by Josephus in your book collection. You may never have heard of it. It was written around [...]
Book review: “The Virgin of Prince Street: Expeditions into Devotion” by Sonja Livingston
Sonja Livingston’s mother led an irregular life, giving birth to seven children, often without a husband, but she still attended Corpus Christi Catholic Church with her kids, striding up [...]
Book review: “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck
In 1962, John Steinbeck was the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the committee that chose him described his novel The Grapes of Wrath as “a great work” [...]
Essay: “We’re called to show up to life”
Picture this: The monthly meeting of a faith-sharing group of a bunch of guys who got to know each other at the local Catholic parish and have been gathering, almost [...]
Book review: “Job: A New Translation” by Edward L. Greenstein
I know the title of Edward L. Greenstein’s Job, just published by Yale University Press, indicates that it’s a new translation of the biblical book composed about 2,600 years ago. [...]
Essay: Thank God for pain
The country duo Big & Rich (Big Kenny and John Rich) can be pretty goofy, but, on their 2014 album Gravity, they included a heartfelt song with the startling title [...]
Poem: “The fate of Billy the Kid”
The fate of Billy the Kid By Patrick T. Reardon Limerick sour hen, consort of thick-palm, bellied Patrick, cock of blind alley, Catherine grudged open to [...]