Standing on holy ground

Angela Alaimo O’Donnell’s tenth book of poems begins with two epigraphs: “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” (Exod. 3:5) and “The Holy Land is everywhere” (Black Elk). These two lines express perfectly the theme of the book. Although each poem stands on its own, a consistent vision is carried through them all: the vision that all is holy—all lands, all people, all moments.

The book’s opening poems take place in the Holy Land, the land of Jesus’ life. But as the settings move elsewhere—to Ireland, to O’Donnell’s family, to the skies and winter weather, to literary figures, and to the US-Mexico border—all reveal their unique holiness. In fact, many of the poems’ titles evoke particular holy lands: “The Land of Daughterhood,” “The Land of Extravagance,” “The Land of Birth,” “The Land of Forgetting,” and many more.

Take “The Land of Long Marriage,” an homage to the care O’Donnell’s sister gives her diabetic husband. After detailing the care, the poem ends: