Author: James Matthew Wilson

James Matthew Wilson has published eight books, including, most recently, The Hanging God (Angelico, 2018). The 2017 recipient of the Hiett Prize from the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, he is associate professor of religion and literature, in the Department of Humanities and Augustinian Traditions, at Villanova University. He also serves as the poetry editor for Modern Age magazine and the series editor for Colosseum Books.

Sloth

the notion of acedia means that a man does not, in the last resort, give the consent of his will to his own being; that beneath the dynamic activity of his existence, he is still not at one with himself
….. ….. -Joseph Pieper

 

When autumn came, my grandfather set up
Behind a metal desk in his garage,
With slender ballpeen hammer and curved pick
….. To hull and crack

The acrid mound of tennis-ball-sized husks
From which he freed those gnarled piths of black walnuts
Gathered beneath our trees the weeks before
….. And meant for this.

Sloth full post

(445 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

To Ernest Hilbert

Somewhere between John Lennon’s name as pop
Icon and as the spirit of an age,
…..Where the Tradition shrivels to tradition,
Extends an alley littered with foam cups,
Cigarette butts, gallstones, champagne, a page
…..From William James, GQ, or True Crime fiction.
This poor, neglected corridor divides
The office suites a rare books dealer rents
…..From kitchen noises at a grand hotel
Where cakes are being iced for naïve brides.
It echoes a street prophet’s loud two cents
…..That nothing without whiskey can end well.
How, Ernie, you found this place, I don’t know,
But in your books, you hold it up for show.

Permanent link to this post (105 words, estimated 25 secs reading time)