Arts Spotlight: Angela Alaimo O'Donnell

May is apparently The Month of Angela.

This month, Angela Alaimo O'Donnell, associate director of Fordham's Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies, published her fourth collection of poems, Saint Sinatra & Other Poems, with Word Press.

St. Martha

"She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word." Luke 10:37

A silly child she ever always was-
our mother said so a thousand times-
her quick eye caught by the flight or buzz
of some pretty creature's mastering wings.
Lazarus tried to keep her out of sight,
to spare his clever sister women's tasks.
I hauled the water, rose before first light,
set bread upon the board before they asked.
The day You came to us our prayers were granted.
My hands obeyed the rhythms of my labor
while Mary sat beside You like a man,
embraced within the circle of Your favor.
I stood apart, Your beauty kept from me,
and only when You left us did I see.

Her essay, "Seeing Catholicly: Poetry & the Catholic Imagination" has been published in The Catholic Studies Reader (Fordham University Press, 2011), edited by Jim Fisher and Margaret McGuinness. The book is the inaugural volume in the new Catholic Practice in America Series at Fordham University Press.

Her poems, "Circling the Inferno" and "Letters to My Heart" were published in the spring issue of Saint Katherine Review, a new literary journal published by Saint Katherine's College; and "Our Mother at the Nursing Home," was published in the spring 2011 issue of Christianity and Literature.

O'Donnell has also recently published poetry in Windhover: A Journal of Faith & Art; The Journal of the Motherhood Initiative; and Tiferet magazine. The poem in the latter is part of a series of ekphrastic pieces O'Donnell has written in response to paintings by Holocaust survivor Martin Spett.

Finally, O'Donnell presented a lecture/poetry reading, "Making Saints: The Mothers, Sisters, and Daughters of the Church," for The Women's Guild of Saints John & Paul Church at the Larchmont Shore Club, on May 12.

Visit Angela Alaimo O'Donnell's website for more poetry, reviews, photos, videos, articles, and event information.