Eternalism?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was what it was.

It is what it is.

It shall be what it shall be.

The Fiend Who Ruined Lives

 

Monsignor Gerald Burns, the pedophile who ruined many lives

https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/pa-abuse-report.pdf

READ THIS AND WEEP

The Diocese of Scranton report begins on printed page 254.

The list of priests involved is on printed page 256.

Burns' assignments and summary are listed on printed pages 817 and 818. 

He was assigned to my parish (Saint John the Evangelist, Wilkes-Barre, PA) from 1953 to 1962. 

I was at that school from 1956 to 1964. I am appalled and disgusted to think that some of my classmates and/or family members may have been subjected to sexual abuse from Father Burns during that time. 

Then he was "reassigned" to Saint Dominic's from 1962 to 1968, where he continued his horrific crimes, until he was subsequently reassigned to four more parishes before retiring in 1994. 

He never admitted to his crimes, was never arrested, tried or jailed. He died in 1999. But the damage he caused to his victims continues to this day.

The story of how he impacted my own life (through abuse of a friend, not me) will, perhaps one day be the subject of another post.

Sad to say, Rev. Raymond Deviney also was assigned to St. John the Evangelist, Wilkes-Barre parish from 1969 to 1976, while I still lived in Wilkes-Barre. My parents worshiped the ground he walked on. See pages 827 and 828 for his summary.

Where was God?

Changing Course

 

After much thought over a long period of time, I have come to the sad conclusion that, as a poet, I have nothing more to say through my work.

I realize that the majority of people I wished to reach do not care about poetry in general, and certainly mine in particular. 

Except for a very limited group of like-minded poets who truly value the craft, inspiration, and perseverance needed to write, revise, and polish a formal, metrical poem from its initial draft to seeing it published, my books and individual poems seem to be little more than short-lived scraps of joy. A successful hobby at best. A waste of time and energy at worst.

No. One. Cares. And I shouldn't, and from now on will not care that the poetry Powers-That-Be and the general reader don't care. I did  my best. There is no market for Catherine Chandler's poetry. There. I've written it. So be it.

On this blog, which I began before my first full length trade poetry collection was published by Able Muse Press, and when it was shortlisted for the Poets' Prize, I posted poems, reviews of my books, and other content. I was buoyed by the wonderful reviews my work received from eminent poets. I was over the moon when I won the prestigious Richard Wilbur Book Award and the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award.

I had so much to say through my poems: nature, philosophy, personal defining events in my life, hoping others who have lived through some of these types of events would somehow be able to relate to them, and perhaps find some comfort, or at least nod in understanding.

It was bad enough discovering the popularity of the likes of Rupi Kaur and her ilk, and now AI can be asked to write a Petrarchan, Shakespearean or Spenserian sonnet and, voilà, less than a minute later, one appears on the screen. Horrible, of course, but probably not so bad to some.

I am tired. My heart is broken.

So tired of sailing against the wind. I have just turned seventy-five, and although I have been writing poetry since the age of eleven in the stifling attic of my childhood home, I was only able to give my full energy to it when my children were grown, and then upon my retirement at the age of 60 in 2010, the year I designed this blog.

The Wonderful Boat needs to change her course. She will now sail into the sunset peacefully, with a hold of beautiful poetry, back to home port, where I will either scuttle her, or leave her in dry dock until such time (if ever) as the winds of change alter in favor of classical elegance, eloquence, and craft.

As the poet Delmira Agustini wrote in her poem "La Barca Milagrosa" which inspired the idea for this blog (you can read the English translation on the blog front page), Yo ya muero de vivir y soñar...

 

Catherine Chandler