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Anya Silver

Anya Silver’s poetry belongs to the ancient tradition of meditation on the name of God—not as a way of containing and owning God, but as a way of entering into communion. Her work is pervaded by a longing for the divine that is at once specifically located in small, ordinary things, and deeply mystical. Alive…

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Work by Silver, Anya: The Burned Butterfly

The Burned Butterfly by Anya Silver Thus this restless little butterfly of the memory  has its wings burned now and cannot fly. —Teresa of Avila Char my wings. Lord, singe these cells of forewing, hindwing. Blacken memory’s sky blue shimmer, its thousands of cells— each startling pigment, each dorsal and ventral venation— the coppered glint…

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Poetry Friday: Raven

By Anya SilverAugust 17, 2018

Poet Anya Krugovoy Silver passed away on Monday, August 6, in Macon, Georgia, at forty-nine. Image was honored to print a number of her poems over the years, and we are all grieving this loss. In the words of her friend, the poet Tania Runyan: Anya didn’t want to be a hero or a fighter.…

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Poetry Friday: “The Name of God”

By Anya SilverOctober 20, 2017

In Scripture, “the name of God” equals “the power of God.” Think of Jesus saying, in John’s Gospel, “I will do whatever you ask in my name” (14: 13-14). What Anya Silver does in this poem is invent a litany of extraordinary images for her personal relation to the name of God. She longs to…

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Poetry Friday: “The Burned Butterfly”

By Anya SilverOctober 5, 2018

My oldest daughter’s was gifted a butterfly garden for her 3rd birthday. We watched the six larvae plump up. Then each formed a chrysalis and after a few weeks all emerged as beautiful, painted lady butterflies. We fed them watermelon and pineapple and when the day came for release, I wasn’t sure my daughter would…

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Poetry Friday: “Russian Bell”

By Anya SilverSeptember 8, 2017

In this stirring poem by Anya Silver, the bell becomes a blueprint. First, the bell shape is transposed on her own body dangling freely in the “arc and blur” of a rope swing. Then, it becomes her open mouth and uvula. And, finally, we see the heart as a shattered peony (“unpeeling, pealing”) dropping petals…

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Issue 88

International fiction by Adonis and Yossel Birstein, and poetry by Jorge Esquinca; Minister Nate Klug on the intersection of ministry and poetry; and an interview with the acclaimed writer George Saunders on his evolving faith journey. Plus, Gregory Wolfe shares his influential encounters with Annie Dillard; Molly McCully Brown sheds light on shadows of doubt in her personal essay; and Lauren F. Winner reviews new works by Aviya Kushner and Carol Harrison. With poetry by Anya Krugovoy Silver, Pádraig J. Daly, Robert Cording, and more.

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Issue 79

New fiction by Mary Gordon and Susanna Childress; Bill Coyle on listening to Leonard Cohen; poems by B.H. Fairchild and Anya Krugovoy Silver; and a conversation with poet Julia Spicher Kasdorf. Plus, Gregory Wolfe enters the intellectual ring with Dana Gioia as they ask, are there any good Catholic writers anymore? With a feature on the art of James Mellick, Jennifer Anne Moses, and more.

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Poetry Friday: “Tenebrae”

By Anya Krugovoy SilverJune 17, 2016

This is a dark poem, raising a profound question about suffering. Its title, “Tenebrae,” is in fact the Latin word for “darkness”; and its setting is Holy Week, when we follow Jesus’ suffering and death. The poem’s first six lines paint in painful detail the immense suffering of a particular woman known to the poet.…

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Theme: Lent

Lent Essays, poetry, short stories, and visual art for the liturgical seasons of Lent and Easter. Anselm Kiefer. Ash Flower, 1983–97 Oil, emulsion, acrylic paint, clay, ash, earth, and dried sunflower on canvas. 149¾ x 299¼ inches. Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, gift of the Burnett Foundation in honor of Michael Auping…

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