Daniel Joseph Berrigan (May 9, 1921 – April 30, 2016) was an American Jesuit priest, college professor, anti-war activist, Christian pacifist, playwright, poet, and author.
I love Berrigan's work, but this collection of linked poems that tells a lyric narrative of Berrigan and his friends on Block Island leaves me cold: I never really invested in the lives of these people as many of the early poems seem more driven by anecdote than anything else. Berrigan's capacity to write a meditative poem in the language of the ordinary remains, and his ear remains attuned, but unlike much of his other work, there's not much compelling seeming to drive the work.