Description: A Voice and a Poet for All Times
It is impossible not to be gripped by the spectacular details of Daniel Berrigan's life. He was Paul Simon's "radical priest" smiling in handcuffs. The Jesuit activist excommunicated by his peers and imprisoned by the state. The unapologetic advocate for society's disempowered. The defiant vandal of objects that fed bodies and materiel to the war machine. And the earnest, yet somehow serene, face emanating from televisions denouncing the inhumanity of that very machine's deeds.Yet Daniel was first an accomplished poet, inspired in his faith by dreams of peace. It was from this profound contemplation of the world from an early age that his courageous acts of civil disobedience and humanitarianism were born.
In this collection of interconnected poems, Daniel Berrigan writes about his intimate bond with his small cottage built especially for him on Block Island. We see his complete integration into the island itself in his reverence for the everyday life and ever-changing weather winding around him. Yet soon we also discover themes of God and the soul, the land and the sea, friendship and loss, time and impermanence, and the tension between society's potential and its spiritual impoverishment.
Embraced by personal and scholarly writings from friends who remain students of Daniel's ideas and lifeworks, as well as images and letters that enrich our perceptions of Daniel, this ever-timely collection is an essential object for poets, activists, the faithful, and all forms of countercultural rebel alike.
Brief description:
Daniel Berrigan (1921-2016) was a legendary priest, poet, peacemaker, author, teacher, and peace activist. He was the first priest in U.S. history ever arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience against war, and is regarded as one of the greatest peacemakers of the 20th century. He was nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize, won the Lamont Poetry award for his first collection of poetry, and was featured on the cover of TIME magazine. He was arrested over 200 times in protest against war, injustice and nuclear weapons; was a member of the 1968 Catonsville Nine anti-war action (for which he spent several years in prison); and the 1980 Plowshares 8 anti-nuclear action for which he faced ten years in prison. He was the author of over 50 books of poetry, journals, plays, essays, theology and scripture studies, such as: No Bars to Manhood; The Dark Night of Resistance; Time Without Number; We Die Before We Live; False Gods, Real Men; America Is Hard to Find; Isaiah; Wisdom; Jeremiah; Job; Testimony; and his autobiography, To Dwell in Peace. His play, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, continues to be performed around the world. Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings and And the Risen Bread: Collected Poems were edited by John Dear. He also served as a hospital chaplain, and taught at Yale, Fordham, Georgetown, the Graduate Theology Union, Berea College, and elsewhere. For further information, visit: www.danielberrigan.org