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Celebrated Catholic poet came to 91����, New England, last Thursday to present a selection of his poetry to the students and faculty.

Dr. Wilson has published four books of poetry, his most recent being , from which he read to the audience. Before he began, Dr. Wilson explained the inspiration for his book: In the Summa Theologiae, St. Thomas Aquinas writes about the birds forbidden for consumption in the Mosaic law, with beautifully symbolic reasoning behind each. When Dr. Wilson read this section of the Summa, he was inspired by Aquinas’s poeticism to write couplets about the forbidden birds, from which the title poem of his book was born. 

Dr. Wilson read several poems to the audience, interspersing them with brief commentary and explanations. He concluded his presentation with a brief and lovely poem called “The Love of God.”

St. Thomas and the Forbidden Birds explores the connecting theme of seeing through the brutality of things into their interior richness and beauty. As he spoke of his inspirations, Dr. Wilson explained the book’s true origin. “This book is structured around the forms of their lives — those great American poets who wrote after World War II and who, instead of despairing after seeing so many horrors and brutalities, tried to make beautiful things to reckon with evil.”

After the presentation, students and faculty engaged in discussion with Dr. Wilson, asking questions about his writing and contemporary poetry, style and form, contemplation and reflection.