"It takes an oriole -// no idea, but a feathered, double-hearted sun/ carrying its own darkness, this particular// squawkishness to gently condemn whatever/ it is in you that hides the waiting world/ from your better eye." @michaeldechane.bsky.social "When You Must Change Your Life" Presence 2025.

"Who will stop the vengeful ghosts of my sins / from stalking me in my sleep? / Neither love, travel, nor art, / neither books nor consuming cause / could fill the great hole God left behind. / He is bulk; and I make up retail." Sharif S. Elmusa, "Mobil Mosque" in Presence 2025.

"Growing up, I always / hated math, how single-minded it was, / its linear compulsions, and its ruthless / lurching toward the single solve, / the definitive answer..." Kate Daniels, "Resurrections" in Presence 2025.

Announcing our submission to Orison's Best Spiritual Literature Anthology: Kate Daniels "Resurrections," Michael Dechane "When You Must Change...," Eric Potter "Against Metaphor," Marjorie Stelmach "Crimes...," Sharif S. Elmusa "Mobile Mosque," James Davis May "Standing Before the Relic . . ."

"the southern blade of the sickle moon / stabs through the veil of clouds - / a jackknife pouting / melodramatically among the stars: / a little dangerous, crazy for certain." Joseph Bathanti "Coyotes" in Presence 2025.

"Here in the heart of darkness / from a kiss on the bridge / of hope, a kiss against the war / against death and exile / I build a kingdom of meaning." Sameer al-Zabin in Presence 2025 trans. by Sharif S. Elmusa. #presence #hope

Congratulations to Margaret Mackinnon whose poem "A Tomb of a Woman at Saqqara" in Presence 2024 was selected for the 2025 volume of Orison Books' Best Spiritual Literature due out in December 2025.

"It takes an oriole - // no idea, but a feathered, double-hearted sun / carrying its own darkness, this particular // squawkishness to gently condemn whatever / it is in you that hides the waiting world / from your better eye." Michael Dechane, "When You Must Change Your Life" in Presence 2025.

"Lint lays atop the book Leaves of pages cheek to cheek / murmur of days A lifetime stacked & piled / means nothing and everything / staring into now" Susan Cowger, "Tipping Points" in Presence 2025.

Calling all poets!! Be part of our 10 Anniversary Issue - submit today! Our submission window closes OCTOBER 1. See our website for details or find us on Submittable. You do NOT have to be Catholic to submit! www.catholicpoetryjournal.com

"Not every evening / descends / and not every old age / creeps up, / some doze like peas / in their green pods / or sprawl with ease / on marshmallow clouds. / Not every angel / terrifies" Age Mishol, "Cabin at the Forest Edge" trans. Joanna Chen in Presence 2025.

"Witness the clown without hands / the horizonless sea // the dervish on fire, / look at the hermit in the rush-hour // crowd, thief among lilies, / killers in the cotton field // and the dead child shattered / in her father's arms." Pablo Medina, "Witness" in Presence 2025.

"Who will stop the vengeful ghosts of my sins / from stalking me in my sleep? / Neither love, travel, nor art, / neither books nor consuming cause / could fill the great hole God left behind. / He is bulk; and I make up retail." Sharif S. Elmusa, "Mobil Mosque" in Presence 2025.

"I want to hear locks opening. / We must keep striking the water, / Shouting dry land, dry land..." Yonatan Berg, "Amen," translated by Joanna Chen in Presence 2025.

"Yet when they sing all the woe of the world / Is transformed. It is as if they / Have touched the tips of their fingers / To the air. The suffering, the blood-vaporized air." Gregory Orfalea, "It Is Hard To Speak" in Presence 2025.

"Everyone said your bones in the box kept singing, talking, yakking, jumping, bouncing as if Petrouchka in his red, white carnival apparel had arrived." Janice Zerfas, "The weather up there must be changing" in Presence 2025.

"How solipsistic / Of us windowsill philosophers / To measure the space / Between God and the moon. " Helen Behe, "Tilting Earth" in Presence 2025.

"The 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 is where the danger is real: / spiraling fears, a vice to conceal, / yourself your worst enemy tied to a chair. / Be careful in there." Monica Silva "Neuroplasticity" in Presence 2025.

"Pablo Medina's newest book of poetry, Sea of Broken Mirrors, [is] a collection of radiant and visceral poems whose graceful movements and keen insights are pure pleasure from start to finish." -- from Jana-Lee Germaine's review in Presence 2025

"The floor bedecked / with mop and broom is the prow / of a ship; the old house / sails on into time, towards the promised Land / and under your idle feet swells / the vasty deep you fled." Jean-Pierre Lemaire, trans. Margaret Morrison, "Equipment" in Presence 2025. #presence #faithpoetry

"Squat in the stacks, her back hunched / Like a bent branch, she kneels before / A wall of children's books." Andrew Calis, "Patron," in Presence 2025.

Our apologies for our incorrect date - Martha Silano passed away from us on May 5, not May 7 as previously posted. She will be dearly missed.

Martha Silano from Presence '21 www.versedaily.org/2021/soulrec... "It turns out gravity// doesn’t hold for souls; souls drift, like loons/ between dives, into eternity,//...//My travel speed is two inches per year,/ same as the moon from Earth. A little less bound by gravity./A little more free.

Remembering Martha Silano 9/2/61 - 5/7/25 for the many ways she supported us over the years: by gracing us with her poems, reading with us, and smiling that inspirational smile! We love you . We will miss you, and we will ALWAYS remember you.

"lungs as branches, as leaves / as green song in early April - // only robins with perfect pitch are more intense." Linda Nemec Foster "After the Long Winter of Chemo, Her Lungs as Trees in Spring" in Presence 2024.

"Long before first light, a rumble comes / from distant dark. Persistent / percussive, the rhythmic / hum of a train unseen // on unseen rails rattles / the windows in their panes." Paul Jaskunas, "Praying After the Night Train" in Presence 2024.

Presence at AWP! Presence 2025 will be available for a reduced rate at the conference. Come see us at table 350!

AWP! Mary Ann Miller will be on the panel: Tricks of the Trade: Teaching Literary Editing and Publishing, 9:00-10:15 AM Friday, 3/28 Room 408B, Level 2 Moderated by Jeremy Schraffenberger, editor of North American Review Panelists: Elijah Burrell, Jennie Case, Sarah Matthes, Mary Ann B. Miller

Presence will be at AWP March 26-29! Join us at Table 350: *meet/visit staff *purchase copies & subscriptions *sign up for email list *pitch an idea for a life's work essay *volunteer to review books We can't wait to see you there!

"A theologian / and astrophysicist walk into a bar. / The regulars are entranced by the homespun // conceits they craft for what we long to hear: / we're made of stars;" Mia Schilling Grogan "One Mystery" in Presence 2024. #faithpoetry #presence

"The wind gushes / clouds burst / light passes through the window / and there is nothing but time..." Mildred Rivadeneyra Bello, "Naked Time" in Presence 2024. #presence #faithpoetry

"God, let me sense / what it takes for bluegill / to warm their quiet fins / beneath the ice-skin of the lake, /.../ I've lived / so long in frozen homes, / my heartbeat fades. How can / I shelter, as your creatures do?" Dana Delibovi, "Reply Requested," in Presence 2024.

"Love's words in such a dusty light / must have felt to her like water running free, the living kind / that isn't gathered from a well. All she ever wanted. Did she / resent her own desire?" Jen Grace Stewart "Story with a Ghost in It" in Presence 2024.

"If you ever have a chance to pray, / Pray for a miracle: and since it may / Be your last chance to pray, pray / For the very best miracle, / From which all other miracles follow: / ...// We must all be blind, / So that death will open our eyes." Luke William, "Blindness" in Presence 2024.

"𝑅𝑒-𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑒 / to bind again / the once-sundered / as earth and heaven / at Origin / this wonderous / stitching- / on-the-wing a rite / of morning / wren of bat / by night" Steve Myers "Powers on Podcast (Merwin in Mind)" in Presence 2024.

"Say a prayer of thanks for galvanized guardrail. / Say a prayer of sixpence. We leave those / we love behind. Words are what we're left with." David Thoreen, "Shuttle" in Presence 2024. #presence #faithpoetry #snow

"Even so, heaven - always, only for me,/Only this one: the song/Of each free bird in the blue,/For this soul who wearies with him,/Each wasting moonbeam/Colors only my shining silhouette" Annette von Droste-Hülshoff trans. Elizabeth Elin & Oli Grogan, "In the Grass" Presence 2024

"Give them wind tattering their dresses / Offer them salt from the hands of prisoners / gold from a field of rapeseed / Come, with your teeth in your pocket / Watch while they scatter the crystal" Lee Sharkey, "For the Ghosts" in Presence 2024.

"Monkey ranks 19, dragon 20. Coming in at 37 out of 100,000?/ Tinkle. No idea why. My favorite is the pilgrim, supplicant,/ who tries to avoid red letter scolding and reset: letmein." Tina Kelley, "Lessons from the List of 100,000 Most Hacked Passwords" in Presence 2024.

We promote our poems & poets far beyond publication – through conferences, readings, nominating for prizes, and on social media. In light of rising costs, please consider an end-of-year or 2025 donation to Presence. Even $5 or $10 would be most appreciated! www.catholicpoetryjournal.com/donate

Staff Updates from 2024: 5) Welcome to Presence's new administrative assistant, Sylvana Toppeta, a freshman, double-majoring in English and Secondary Education at Caldwell University.

Staff Updates from 2024: 4) Presence poets Mia Schilling Grogan and Jana-lee Germaine now serve as Social Media Marketing Co-Managers and regularly post to Facebook, Instagram, X, and BlueSky. Find Mia’s at www.chc.edu/academics/fa.... Find Jana-Lee at janaleegermaine.com

Staff Updates from 2024: 3) Longtime Presence “marketing assistant” Susan Miller has taken on the title of Arts Editor. Read her Rutgers webpage at wh.rutgers.edu/news-and-eve...

Staff Updates from 2024: 2) Assistant Editor, Marjorie Maddox, will be one of the “visiting authors” at the upcoming January term of DeSales University’s MFA program and will use Presence 2022 as one of her texts for class.

Staff Updates from 2024: 1) Associate Editor, Lois Roma-Deeley was named an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. Read her Academy of American Poets bio at poets.org/poet/lois-ro...

"Help us to sing - / Even trees praise, and patterns / Of snow - though it's perilous this / Season, to go where we long to go." Sandra Duguid, "A Christmas Prayer" in Presence 2024. #presence #faithpoetry #christmaspoems

"The apples may be cold and pockmarked and / the figs may be forbidden but you're still alive / more or less and you have your tongue and your spite / and other ingredients necessary for a summoning." Rebecca Bratten Weiss "Midway in the journey of our life" in Presence 2024.

"The sky tonight a 64 box of crayons / all of them a shade of dark / so that even the raccoons & rabbits that visit / my yard can't find the garden." Gerry LaFemina "The Abbott of the Order of the Night" in Presence 2024. #presence #faithpoetry

"Let the toast burn, the soup boil dry, the dust / on the stair-steps stay. You, Creator, who begins / with clay: for all this, we live. For all this, praise." Iris A. Law, "Awakening Psalm" in Presence 2024 #presence #praise