Dear Dante

"Just as Dante examines the depths of hell for his audience, O’Donnell plumbs the depths of Dante to reveal his humanity, and she finds the common core of poetry: “for he knows only poetry can raise/ his harrowed soul from the deep pit of grief.” This collection is a love letter to poetry and verse as much as to Dante." —Brendan Walsh, America Magazine

"What a splendid reading Angela Alaimo O’Donnell offers us here in Dear Dante, as she travels (poet with poet) with Dante as her guide through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise! And the emotions O’Donnell registers in these responses to the Prince of Poets—from the deep, chilling wisdom and pity she gleans from Hell, to the tears for our human frailty, to that visceral sense of experiencing what is lost for good in our purgation, to understanding the necessity to let go of our ego-centered desires for the one thing necessary: Love. And all of this told, as with her other teacher, Flannery O’Connor, with a wit and honesty and deep insight where even words fail as we search for that One Word we hunger for." —Paul Mariani, author of Deaths and Transfigurations, The Mystery of It All, and All That Will be New

"Anyone looking to appreciate Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” without having to wade through the 100 cantos will welcome this new collection from writer and educator Angela Alaimo O’Donnell. A poet in her own right, and a professor of English, Catholic studies and creative writing at Fordham University in New York, Alaimo O’Donnell’s new work “Dear Dante” is a lively and engaging love letter of sorts to one of civilization’s preeminent literary artists. “Dear Dante” succeeds on a number of levels. Readers more familiar with the “Divine Comedy” will no doubt appreciate the weaving of complexity and simplicity in this retelling. Those who haven’t read the “Divine Comedy” meanwhile, might consider this 39-poem collection a primer of the venerable work."—Mike Mastromatteo, The Catholic Courier

"Dear Dante unfolds as a poetic correspondence between two poets in dialogue across space, time, and languages. Both are pilgrims striving to walk their paths to achieve the bliss of heaven, and though they are separated by centuries, they are not so different. Both interrogate themselves and their worlds while eliciting in their readers the desire to join and partake in their poetic and spiritual camino. Angela Alaimo O’Donnell’s rare sensitivity as a reader and her technical excellence as a poet take us closer to the Commedia by making Dante’s poetry alive and engaged with our modern world and selves." —Susanna Barsella, author of In the Light of the Angels: Angelology and Cosmology in Dante's Divina Commedia

“This splendid homage in Dante’s favorite forms reflects Angela Alaimo O’Donnell’s love and passionate engagement with The Divine Comedy. Pondering the Inferno she outdoes the maestro in compassion, ‘Perfection is a dream the heartless chase.’ Her meditations on the Purgatorio reaffirm Dante, allowing that ‘souls en route to God know how to sing’ and she deftly catches his Paradiso’s peace of heart ‘Where desire is defeated, love comes first.’ We both delight in these poems and are reawakened to the wonder of Dante.” – Micheal O’Siadhail, author of The Five Quintets 

"While Dante’s time differs from ours, O’Donnell introduces us to the magnificence of the Divine Comedy....  O’Donnell has served as a kind of Virgil." —Bob Trube, Bob On Books

"O’Donnell joins the conversation with Dante alongside Charles Williams and Dorothy L. Sayers, C. S. Lewis and Malcolm Guite, Seamus Heaney and Osip Mandelstam. Her thoughtful, accessible verse invites readers into lyrical discourse with the medieval master. In keeping with Dante’s choice of vernacular language for the Commedia to welcome all readers, this book calls poets of all levels to the table. O’Donnell’s balance of story, structure, music, and imagination offers a fitting response to Dante." —Laura E. Lucht, Radix Magazine