In his latest project, Saint with a Peacock Voice, poet Lew Klatt gathers the language for his poems from the collected prose of Catholic luminary Flannery O’Connor. Each poem harvests language exclusively from a specific O’Connor story, essay, or letter and recasts a subset of those words (unaltered for tense or number or grammar) into lyric expression. By repeating her words verbatim but in new arrangements, these poems explore what else her diction, in the mouth of another, might want to say. They also invite a new mode of reading and reckoning with O’Connor, and perhaps with literature itself. Professor Klatt will read from his book and talk about the impetus behind it, the specific challenges he faced, and what he learned about O'Connor and about poetry in the process. Each session will emphasize interaction with the participants and provide opportunities for discussion.

Required Text: Saint with a Peacock Voice (Parlor Press, 2025) ISBN 978-1643175027, is available in the Calvin University Campus Store and online.

Subject: poetry, creativity

Lew Klatt is the author of five collections of poetry, including Cloud of Ink, winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize, and Interloper, winner of the Juniper Prize for Poetry. Along with George David Clark, he is co-editor of Playing with Fire: Christian Poets Reflect on Faith and Practice, forthcoming from Baylor University Press.