First Things
 

The June/July First Things is on line. I was struck by an epigrammatic cinquain, "The Priests' Graveyard," by West Chester's Lisa Barnett, a perfect poem. And by a fine poem about choosing his cemetary plot by our Bob Crawford. The real highlight for me, though, is "God's Patient Stet," a major essay on Dick Wilbur by David Lyle Jeffrey. The best essays I've read on Wilbur are by Sullivan and Espaillat, but this one is in that league. Professor Jeffrey knows his Bible cold, and therefore has insights into Wilbur that I lack, despite my deep familiarity with the man and his work. All the foregoing require subscription to view, but online subscription is only $15. It's worth that just to read George Weigel's majestic appraisal of John Paul II's place in 20th and 21st Century intellectual life.

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