How Mary Karr Finds God in All Things

In America, Timothy O’Brien, SJ, writes about the poet and memoirist Mary Karr about the Spiritual Exercises and Ignatian spirituality: “If you live in New York City, where it’s 105 degrees, I have to walk out of this apartment wondering where I’m going to be of service.”

I’ve written about Mary Karr before. Her memoir Lit is a great story of recovery and spiritual awakening.  Her poetry is searing in its intensity.  Here are a few lines from her poem “Disgraceland:”

Eventually, I lurched out

to kiss the wrong mouths, get stewed,

and sulk around. Christ always stood

to one side with a glass of water.

Read the rest of the poem here.