Allison Seay’s poetry published in renowned journal

In 2016, Allison Seay joined St. Stephen’s staff as associate for religion and the arts. Among her many roles on the staff, she has brought celebrated poets to St. Stephen’s (Jane Hirshfield, Natasha Tretheway, Lisa Russ Spahr, Temple Cone, to name just a few) and wrote a weekly reflection on poetry with particular attention to matters of faith. Despite these contributions, what many of us forget (or maybe didn’t know) is that Allison is herself an award-winning poet. Two of Allison’s poems were published in the most recent edition of Image, an acclaimed journal whose admirers have included Madeleine L’Engle, Bill Moyers, Henri Nouwen, and Annie Dillard, to name a few. The journal “fosters contemporary art and writing that grapple with the mystery of being human by curating, cultivating, convening, and celebrating work that explores religious faith and faces spiritual questions. Image is animated by our vision to be a vibrant thread in the fabric of culture, contributing to mainstream literary and artistic communities by demonstrating the vitality of contemporary art and literature invigorated by religious faith.” In addition to writing poetry and essays, Allison has taught English literature in college and secondary school. She was poet-in-residence at the University of Mary Washington and taught English at Collegiate School in Richmond—experiences that also made her an especially insightful member of our family ministry team. She designed a unique Confirmation preparation program for St. Stephen’s three years ago, and has been integral to the flourishing of our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd offering. During the pandemic, she provided Catechesis presentations on video for families at home, and video reflections on art and poetry as part of the Friday Arts Series introduced during “lockdown.” She’s been a gifted preacher and reflector in our worship services and a popular speaker in the Sunday Forum. With Allison’s permission, we share the two poems published in Image.

Allison Seay (Photo by Jay Paul)

Thou (the well)

It is late last night the dog was speaking of you; The snipe was speaking of you in her deep marsh.

—ISABELLA AUGUSTA, LADY GREGORY

I have carried everything down and I’m talking to you from the inside It is late the dogs and the sniper speaking of you I carried them with me even the deep marsh I carried it and my entire life I have carried down the city of you the continent the fields of corn the fields of you a grove of olive trees moon sky wind you I have carried the entire thing my love I carried us both down and from here the view is really of no view only light as a pinprick precise as my memory in the dark I know I have what I need and all I need is the climate of you who are the climate of well who are the water and stone of well the dog the snipe the marsh the echo of you who are you who are I carried you I carried all that speaks all that speaks of you of you

Thou (a feather)

It was not a dream. Into the silk underdress of a country I disappeared

like a moth in fabric, a garment of God whose hem I followed

forgetting the other world away from here was crumbling.

I fell in love and said it aloud to no one. It was in the late morning and I sat in a field of bright-faced poppies.

Then, in the fold of my dress a feather.

Which meant somewhere else, I could not see, a pretty creature was flying,

unaware anything had been lost or anything given.