Parts of the Mass

Author: Catherine Imbriglio

Publisher: Burning Deck (2007)

"Catherine Imbriglio's first collection of poems, Parts of the Mass, uses the Mass as a framework for her own stunningly original poems. Here we have language of the internal juxtaposed with the ancient holy and modern secular worlds. Her moving phrases come from many sources but are chosen brilliantly to surprise, disturb, and delight us. Many of the poems want to be read aloud. They convey a faultless and timeless rhythm even as the words themselves bear images of our own lives. This most original view into the Mass leaves you knowing you have entered a secret, ironic, yet darkly imagined world."

-Marjorie Milligan

“Formally exploratory as her poems are, poetry is for her not a formal exercise but a necessity, a way to understand the world and the words with which we know it.”

—Reginald Shepherd

Winner of the Norma Farber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America