This week’s poem in the Catholic Poetry Room is by Mary Alice Dixon.
Communion of Saints after the Final Fast
“Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story…
written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.”
— C. S. Lewis
When body breaks
the prophets say, we spring
light to ride the rain, drawn up
by the gravity of God
the Father who kneads us
to flower.
When body breaks
the prophets say, we rise
from the mineral weight
of calcium hands
stone ground
in hard times
we bloom
at God’s good table
tasting whole
wheat and honey
the communion of saints
rising like yeast
like flour to bread, flower
to light
like the Virgin grown fat
with the Son
we rise, transformed
Easter new.
Mary Alice Dixon is a former professor of architectural history and longtime hospice volunteer who lives in Charlotte, NC. She is a Pushcart nominee, an award-winning poet, and a finalist for the NC Poetry Society 2023 Poet Laureate Award. Her work has been in numerous publications, including Amethyst Review, Broad River Review, Clayjar, Fourth River, inScribe, Kakalak, Pinesong, Stonecoast Review, and North Dakota Quarterly. One of Mary Alice’s greatest joys has been serving as a judge in Catholic Literary Arts’ 2022 and 2023 Archdiocesan Middle School Sacred Poetry Contests.
