Viriditas: New and Selected Poems

by Kathleen Staudt

Publisher:

Resource Publications

, 2023

Drawing on the spirituality of St. Hildegard of Bingen, these poems tap into the energy of green-ness ("viriditas") as it pulses through nature and through the times of loss, disorientation, and fresh hope that we encounter in our lives. Sinking into the experience of sacred place, they lead us into woodlands and ocean beaches, local gardens and distant places of pilgrimage. Through celebration and elegy, biblical story and the natural world, these poems invite readers to experiences of meditation and even prayer, embracing all that is green and growing in our lives.

Praise for Viriditas

“Kathleen Staudt’s Viriditas opens our eyes to a luminous world of colors, which then permeates our interior beyond our knowing. It is the ‘green of ordinary time,’ the ‘quick in the root of being,’ a vivacity we are blessed to experience, paradoxically, in moments of profound stillness. Staudt invites us into such moments, through poems of quiet love for the world in and around us—both the world and the words being God’s gift.”

—Sofia M. Starnes, Virginia poet laureate emerita



“Kathleen Staudt’s Viriditas is a joyous tribute to nature, green in shoot and bough. In the tradition of Mary Oliver, her poems revel in the seasons closely observed, from the colors and shapes of leaves to the subtle hues of love. Like a wise bee, Staudt confects the honey of contemplation from all the changes and chances of this life.”

—Barbara Newman, professor of English, classics, and history, Northwestern University



“Kathleen Staudt’s Viriditas is a ribbon of bright light, a gift that invites us to celebrate with her the greening energy of the sacred in poems that open to us like seeds in a soft spring rain. Her poems are an invitation to discover anew how the experiences of being human can daily point us toward the miracles to be found in each moment, ‘Breathing in. Breathing out.’”

—Michael Glaser, Maryland poet laureate, 2004–2009



“Whether writing about the changing seasons in her garden or the changing seasons of our lives, for Staudt, every moment is infused with the holy. She has a deep way of listening to the world. Whether writing about her mother’s death or family trips to the beach, even her conversations with difficult biblical figures, draw us deeply into her reverence and gratitude for life itself. What a privilege and a pleasure to read these poems.”

—Emily Blair Stribling, author of The Mercy of Light

Product Details

• Title: Viriditas: New and Selected Poems
• Author: Kathleen Staudt
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Print Publication Date: 2023
• Logos Release Date: 2023
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Ebook
• ISBNs: 9781666754711, 9781666754698, 1666754692, 9781666754704, 1666754706, 1666754714
• Resource ID: LLS:9781666754711
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2023-05-18T23:46:39Z

About Kathleen Staudt

Kathleen Staudt, Professor of Political Science and Endowed Professor of Western Hemispheric Trade Policy Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso, has been teaching and researching in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands for over thirty years. Among her various books, ten focus on borders, the last of which (with Zulma Méndez) is titled Courage, Resistance, and Women in Ciudad Juárez: Challenges to Militarization (University of Texas Press, 2015). Staudt founded UTEP’s Center for Civic Engagement and is active in many non-governmental organizations.