The Fruits of Contemplation by Charles W. Dahm, O.P.

Evangeliaries
By Philip C. Kolin
Angelico Press, 2024 
$14.95   112 pp.

Philip Kolin has done it again. His new book, Evangeliaries, offers poems inspired by his very insightful Christian and biblical faith. Kolin is the Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus and Editor Emeritus of the Southern Quarterly at the University of Southern Mississippi. He has published over 40 books, including 15 collections of poems.

Evangeliaries is divided into sections, such as “Beginnings,” with poems exploring light, fire, and water; “Holy Books and Theological Virtues,” with reflections on grace, faith, hope, and charity; and “Metaphors and Keys,” with poems like bread, stones, and salt. Each poem opens new understanding and depth for the reader. They provide the reader with various angles of appreciation of the wealth of Sacred Scripture, from Eve to Job to Lazarus. Kolin shares the Dominican charism by “sharing the fruits of his contemplation” (contemplata aliis tradere).

Many poems address questions of social justice, with titles such as “Lepers,” “The Poor in Spirit,” “In a Walmart Parking Lot,” “The Capuchin Food Trucks,” and “The Women’s Shelter.” In the poem “Sheep,” Kolin writes:

Woolly clouds with cloven feet . . .
Woe betide wicked shepherds who fail
to water, care and cure their flocks,
leaving them to scatter on the mountains
prey for ravenous beasts, refusing
to search for the lost sheep as night descends . . .

I have a specific interest in the issue of domestic violence, because the Dominican parish I pastored for 21 years developed a strong counseling program for victims, their children, and those who cause harm to their partners. Kolin’s poem “Shelter” resonated with me:

The shelter is almost always full –
booked with running invitations because
a spouse battered as many commandments.

It is a hospice for the terrified of heart.
But the curtains on all the windows
Are yellow even when the sun

doesn’t shine and every room has a sky
blue prayer blanket, blessed, soft, signed
to keep bullies and assassins away.

But not the nightmares, threats, tears
doubts, and what ifs. These last words are the welts
he planted in her conscience.

Kolin’s poems help us look at life differently and understand in new ways the realities we often take for granted. In the poem “A Session with a Spiritual Advisor,” he challenges us to look inside and assess who we are and where we are going:

We sit with silence as we sit opposite
each other on strict wooden chairs.
She offers me a glass of barley water
and then gives me the holy counsel.

“Let God have a good look at you. How much
poverty have you acquired since we last met?
Continue to strip yourself from your possessions.
To be poor is to be free. Okay Mother Teresa.
Disown your closets. Embrace emptiness.”

I highly recommend this book to those seeking to delve deeper into their understanding of Scripture or looking for a fresh view of notable biblical texts. The poems are enlightening and inspiring and help readers expand their appreciation of the biblical basis of their faith. ♦

Fr. Charles Dahm, O.P., is the director of Domestic Violence Outreach in Chicago.

Image: Francois Boucher, Hermit in a Landscape, 1726