Review
In this collection, O'Donnell explores the theme of "home," not in a cozy way, but in delineations sharply etched and striking. Her sense of the past is deep as bedrock, as is her sense of faith.
--THE PEDESTAL MAGAZINE, Barbara Crooker
Moving House is a deeply affecting book. It balances hard truths with a sweetness of spirit that is, if not singular, rare in our time, especially in contemporary poetry. --AMERICA, Kelly Cherry
Despite the lost homes, the unreliability of accustomed pleasures, and the ubiquitous grave where unfinished business must be confronted directly, "Moving House" is a serene, even joyful book.
--RATTLE, by Maryanne Hannon
Life in death; death in life. This is O'Donnell's delicate balance thoroughout the poems of
Moving House. I know of no other poet so immersed in human mortality yet without the least morbidity. --CHRISTIAN CENTURY, by Peggy Rosenthal
One of the arts that must bring delight to a poet is that of ordering the poems. O'Donnell is a master of this art. It is as if the poems are in conversation, the space between them inviting the reader in. --CHRISTIAN CENTURY, Peggy Rosenthal
From the Back Cover
There is more than a touch of Elizabeth Bishop in these carefully constructed poems by Angela Alaimo O'Donnell. A quiet, but profound power is released in poem after poem as the poet exercises her talent for finding the unexpected blessings secreted within all the moments of our lives - even those that are most quotidian. From the tiny "pleasure of slicing celery" to the "tornado that ripped/ the roof off your life," O'Donnell's poetic world is continually replenished by a spiritual omnipresence that manifests itself as ordinary and domestic, but is nothing less transformative than grace.Kate Daniels, author of FOUR TESTIMONIES
In Moving House, her aptly-named first book of poems, Angela Alaimo O'Donnell demonstrates both her versatility and her mettle, flint-fiery and tender by turns. Here is a collection of grace-filled, gritty, vulnerable lyrics, rife with surprises at every turn, inscribed in a language we quickly come to trust. Here is the record of someone who has been through the fire and the pit, and emerged--thanks to a fierce wit and a hard-won faith--whole and healing. Hers is a welcome addition to the great tradition of religious poets, writing in an idiom we will recognize, a voice as much at home with Dante as with Melville and Van Gogh.
Paul Mariani , author of Deaths and Transfigurations
