Poetry. "'An artist worthy of her art would find a way / to capture this absence.' Thus, Marjorie Stelmach chides herself for failing to quite discover a language equal to the deepest mysteries, death and loss. This piercing collection of poems, this anatomy of grief, plays out on the desolate shores of Ireland, a care center for the elderly, and in the poet's memory and imagination. It is the simplest and oldest of stories: a daughter mourns her mother's death. But in facing her anguish so directly, in struggling so courageously to give words and meaning to the unknowable, Stelmach has forged a terrible beauty. I can hardly imagine an artist worthier of her art."--George Bilgere

Walking the Mist

Literature & Fiction

Stelmach, Marjorie

Poetry

Ashland Poetry Press

The poems in Marjorie Stelmach's Falter attempt to comprehend what Soren Kierkegaard in Fear and Trembling deems our "highest passion": faith--a task that he claims has remained the same for each generation and "is always adequate for a person's lifetime." In the opening section, "Inscrutability & Error," the poems consider an assortment of obstacles--misinterpretations, distractions, self-delusions, dead ends, and excuses--that complicate this task, leaving the various seekers in frustration, even despair. The title poem, which makes up the central section, follows a woman through the first difficult days of a silent retreat, guided by readings from The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers, contemplation of the natural world, and meditation on her own personal history. The poems of the final section, "The Breaking Strain of Grace," gather the hard-won bits of understanding arrived at in parts one and two and apply them to the sorrows and losses of later life. Although the pilgrimage toward a steadfast faith must continue, these poems show the seeker arriving at some provisional faiths that may serve as she nears the conclusion of her allotted lifetime.

Falter (Poiema Poetry)

History & Criticism

Cascade Books

To kill a mockingbird: By Harper Lee (Teacher's companion : a resource guide for teachers, by teachers)

Reference

Milliken

Shane: By Jack Schaefer (Teacher's companion : a resource guide for teachers, by teachers)

Marjorie Stelmach’s new collection, The Angel of Absolute Zero, seeks to engage its readers in thoughtful reflection on our difficult times. The opening section of the book, entitled Canticle of Want, introduces the collection’s governing characteristic: these poems want a lot. They ask us to view our damaged planet and acknowledge our complicity; to question “how it is we have come to this” and take heart in our wish to be more worthy; to accept suffering and loss and yet feel gratitude, expect joy. In short, these poems aspire to “teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

The Angel of Absolute Zero (Poiema Poetry Series)

Night Drawings: Poems

Helicon Nine Editions

Poetry. The poems in WITHOUT ANGELS watch the world for evidence that the angelic orders—once positioned just above humankind in the Great Chain of Being—maintain a presence among us still. Angels move through these poems in both ancient and contemporary dress, some attested to by witnesses who offer a halting testimony, some speaking for themselves, others woven so subtly into the fabric of the world as to go unnoticed. In Part I, two angels play at Chutes and Ladders; a crated marble angel contemplates her fate in the courtyard of a cathedral; a single-winged angel hitchhikes a desert highway near the base where the first atomic bombs were assembled; an imprisoned angel undergoes interrogation and torture. Although their purpose remains unclear, these angels seem to study us, to wish to understand and care for us, although in "Our Better Angels," one of their kind concludes that "it may be impossible to love you." As for us, if we yearn for something akin to, yet larger than ourselves, we also yearn for proof; in "Traits of the Angels" we're told it is only a myth that "you can read them in the dark." In Part II, specific angels pursue specific missions: an angel delivers a message to Lot or conducts the corpse of Adam to a final rest; a guardian angel out of childhood's lost faith intervenes to prevent a suicide; art historical angels appear in paintings and sculpture gardens. Recent incarnations, too, are represented: flight attendant angels, angel fish, angels of the missing outside the funeral home. In one poem, all that remains of the angels are cocoons left hanging in the branches of trees. Even in a poem filled with our culture's substitutes for the angels—light houses, sonar, satellites—wing-shaped stanzas suggest the angels have not left us entirely on our own. Perhaps if we kept a closer watch? Spade-foot toads, after all, are everywhere hidden on the floor of Death Valley. If toads, then angels? Perhaps not. But mightn't it be best to tread softly, aware "of what a mis-step among them might cost us"?

Without Angels

Mayapple Press

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Books by Stelmach, Marjorie