March 1st is the Feast of St David of Wales:

Visitations Essay

Meditation by Fr. Gabriel Rochelle

POETRY NEWS

Congratulations to Jesse K. Butler who has recently published poetry in the following journals: Ekstasis and Solum. Currently, Butler is working with Darkly Bright Press on his first volume of collected poetry entitled The Living Law.

The Tale of the Two Guides by Joshua Alan Sturgill

Phillip Neal Tippin concludes The Pilgrimage, Book II.

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

Among My Books: To my surprise some of the best stories of the year have come to my desk in the last week or ten days. I have been wondering since last February what had become—not of the masterpieces of fiction—but of the well written, well constructed tale, the book that showed cleverness at all events, if not genius.

NEW POETRY

Unconditional Conditions by Joshua Alan Sturgill

The Pilgrimage, Book II: Part 32 by Phillip Neal Tippin

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

Among My Books: Sound, too, is Lord Redesdale’s contention that the real things are done with pains and difficulty. Here is a doctrine very necessary for the present time, which has got into its silly head the falsehood that important things are to be secured easily, that, everything is to be gained without tears. It would be true to say that nothing is to be had without tears.

MACHEN MISCELLANEA

An early and obscure work: Sir Serjeant Ballantine

This week: The Feast of St. Teilo of Wales

Kontakion of St Teilo (Tone 1)
O teacher of pure doctrine, joy of monastics
and Dewi Sant’s fellow pilgrim to Jerusalem,
where thou wast elevated to the episcopate, most pious Father Teilo,
we keep festival in thy honour, praying for grace to follow in thy footsteps.

BOOKS AROUND MACHEN

The Holy Grail: Arthur Machen and The Inklings: Dale Nelson explores an old text and its admirers. This is the first in a series about the books on Arthur Machen’s reading list.

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

The Desire In Our Hearts for Colour: Sound, sturdy, practical common sense, I say it again; and yet, how many men who think themselves hard-headed would condemn these maxims as mere drivelling sentimentality. Yet man hungers and thirsts for colour and beauty just as truly as he hungers and thirsts for meat and drink. Lack of the latter means disaster to the body; lack of the former means disaster to the spirit.

MACHEN MISCELLANEA: English and Irish

NEW POETRY

The Chase by Joshua Alan Sturgill

The Pilgrimage, Book II: Part 31 by Phillip Neal Tippin

Congratulations to Bryn Homuth
His book is now available.

Chasing the Burr by Bryn Homuth is now available for purchase.

NEW POETRY

Joshua Alan Sturgill: Motion Picture Soundtrack

The Pilgrimage, Book II: Part 30 by Phillip Neal Tippin

A poem for Candlemas by Benjamin Rozonoyer

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

A Queer Creation of a Child of Three: Carlyle once said something which he meant to be very disparaging about the novels and romances of Sir Walter Scott. He declared that they were just the sort of books that seemed to be written to amuse an idle man lying on a sofa; there was no “doctrine” in them, nothing but a sort of soothing draught or opiate for brains too tired and too feeble to grapple with predestination and election and such weighty natters. Now, of course, Carlyle was all wrong about one of the best romance-writers that the world has ever known.

Poems Written and Read by Joshua Alan Sturgill

Bonus: Arthur Machen on Lewis Carroll

Chasing the Burr by Bryn Homuth: Available February 2, 2023

An Interview with the Poet

From the upcoming collection: Plucking

NEW POETRY

Read and listen to Texit by Joshua Alan Sturgill

The Pilgrimage, Book II: Part 29 by Phillip Neal Tippin

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

By the Avon: Then from all quarters of the earth the old Bensonian company will gather together to do their ancient suit and service; they will muster beside a celestial Avon, at the portals of an immemorial theatre, and I, their humble scribe in an old cloak, reclining on the banks of asphodel, will record the achievements of these strolling heroes.

Darkly Bright Press is pleased to announce the publication of Chasing the Burr, the first full-length collection by poet Bryn Homuth on February 2nd. Presenting nuanced and subtle theological imagery, Homuth’s work focuses on the themes of life, death and memory. The poet beautifully positions family, community and labor as foundational cornerstones for a traditional and hierarchical understanding of creation.

NEW POETRY

For his 250th post, Joshua Alan Sturgill presents One Question Asked Three Ways

The Pilgrimage, Book II: Part 28 by Phillip Neal Tippin

Save A Seat by Linda Lobmeyer

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

Divorce “Shops”: Well, speaking as a Churchman, a mediævalist, a reactionary, as a man who invariably locks up his silver spoons when he hears the words “humanity,” “advanced ideas,” “enlightened and progressive reform,” and all others such phrases, I need not say that I renounce and abhor and detest the Royal Commission and all its works “like a good ‘un.”

Happy Hen Galan!

In this classic article, we explore the possible identity of the enigmatic holy man from The Secret Glory, The Great Return and Levavi Oculos: St. Ilar the Unknown Saint. His feast day is this weekend.

NEW POETRY

To Thusness by Joshua Alan Sturgill

The Pilgrimage, Book II: Part 27 by Phillip Neal Tippin

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

Early Books of 1913: As it seems to me, beauty of tone, or colour, or form, or language, of the earth or sky or sea, is realised always with something of a shock: Paradise is, as it were, presented to us in a flash of blinding light, and our hearts are shaken and our eyes are dimmed by its unendurable splendours. For an instant we divine a world of immortal beauty; and the weakness of our mortality breaks down before the vision.

Joshua Alan Sturgill reads I’ll Step Now Down, an excerpt from his new collection.

The Pilgrimage, Book II: Part 26 by Phillip Neal Tippin

Strange Parts by Linda Lobmeyer

Adam at the Crossroads by Rafael Pereira Bianchin

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

A Wonder of Childhood: Well, I have long ago indicated my belief that “heaven lies about us in our infancy” cannot mean that “wholesome maternal influences surround us in our childhood.” With Wordsworth I hold that true insight and true vision are given to children from some sphere that surpasses all our knowledge and all our analysis.