The Friends Behind 'Love and other Mysteries,' part 1

Father Enda McKenna

Hello, Poetry Friend

My new poetry collection, Love and other Mysteries, began more than a decade ago, in a 5:15 a.m. boot camp exercise class, on the high school track. I was supposed to be running, but instead I walked alongside my parish priest at the time, Father Enda McKenna.

Why yes, he is Irish.

He asked me if I was writing poems about my troubles.

“No.” As in absolutely not.

He laughed. “Well, what are you writing about?”

“Oh, trees, birds, flowers, hikes we’ve taken as a family.”

“Hmm,” he said, and by that time I knew him well enough to speak Enda. His hmm meant, “Why not write about your troubles at the same time?”

And so I did. I began by poeming every hike I’d ever taken at Rocky Mountain National Park, where we spent most of our family vacations. Soon there were other Texas hikes I wanted to write about too.

For me, hiking is the ultimate searching activity. Even though every trail has a destination, the joy is in the journey, the there and back again. I’ve left pieces of my soul in every step.

“Bierstadt Lake” is a poem about a hike we’ve taken more than once, to Bierstadt Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. It’s from the Glorious Mysteries section and evokes the feeling of the Resurrection (fruit of the mystery: faith).