Block Island: Poems, Photos, and Letters

A Voice and a Poet for All Times
It is impossible not to be gripped by the spectacular details of Daniel Berrigan's life. He was Paul Simon's "radical priest" smiling in handcuffs. The Jesuit activist excommunicated by his peers and imprisoned by the state. The unapologetic advocate for society's disempowered. The defiant vandal of objects that fed bodies and materiel to the war machine. And the earnest, yet somehow serene, face emanating from televisions denouncing the inhumanity of that very machine's deeds.

Yet Daniel was first an accomplished poet, inspired in his faith by dreams of peace. It was from this profound contemplation of the world from an early age that his courageous acts of civil disobedience and humanitarianism were born.

In this collection of interconnected poems, Daniel Berrigan writes about his intimate bond with his small cottage built especially for him on Block Island. We see his complete integration into the island itself in his reverence for the everyday life and ever-changing weather winding around him. Yet soon we also discover themes of God and the soul, the land and the sea, friendship and loss, time and impermanence, and the tension between society's potential and its spiritual impoverishment.

Embraced by personal and scholarly writings from friends who remain students of Daniel's ideas and lifeworks, as well as images and letters that enrich our perceptions of Daniel, this ever-timely collection is an essential object for poets, activists, the faithful, and all forms of countercultural rebel alike.

Daniel Berrigan (1921-2016) was a legendary priest, poet, peacemaker, author, teacher, and peace activist. He was the first priest in U.S. history ever arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience against war, and is regarded as one of the greatest peacemakers of the 20th century. He was nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize, won the Lamont Poetry award for his first collection of poetry, and was featured on the cover of TIME magazine. He was arrested over 200 times in protest against war, injustice and nuclear weapons; was a member of the 1968 Catonsville Nine anti-war action (for which he spent several years in prison); and the 1980 Plowshares 8 anti-nuclear action for which he faced ten years in prison. He was the author of over 50 books of poetry, journals, plays, essays, theology and scripture studies, such as: No Bars to Manhood; The Dark Night of Resistance; Time Without Number; We Die Before We Live; False Gods, Real Men; America Is Hard to Find; Isaiah; Wisdom; Jeremiah; Job; Testimony; and his autobiography, To Dwell in Peace. His play, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, continues to be performed around the world. Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings and And the Risen Bread: Collected Poems were edited by John Dear. He also served as a hospital chaplain, and taught at Yale, Fordham, Georgetown, the Graduate Theology Union, Berea College, and elsewhere. For further information, visit: www.danielberrigan.org

Susan Hagedorn earned a BA in English at Ohio Wesleyan University, a BS in nursing at the University of Massachusetts, an MS in maternal-child nursing at Boston College, an MA in Media Studies at The New School, and a PhD in nursing at the University of Colorado where she taught, practiced as a nurse practitioner, and did research. Sue's nursing career has been dedicated to social justice as a nurse educator, nurse practitioner, philanthropist, filmmaker, and activist.

Sue "retired" from nursing academia to a career in documentary filmmaking. She has produced more than fifteen films focused on nursing and social justice, including films advocating for a variety of roles within the practice of nursing and celebrating nursing history. She also made a feature about a hate crime on Long Island (Deputized, 2013), followed by two Berrigan films: Seeking Shelter: A Story of Place, Faith, and Resistance (2018) and The Berrigans: Devout and Dangerous (2021) about the Berrigans' century of peacemaking.

Susan is the recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Award, the Florence Nightingale Award for Excellence in Health and Care Analytics, and the Humanitarian Award, which she received at the Long Island International Film Expo for Deputized. She is also a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She lives part-time on Block Island and is co-president of the Block Island Historical Society.

Carla Berrigan, beloved niece of Daniel, spent thirty-seven years being a literacy advocate to inner-city children in Syracuse, New York. Her annual respite in Dan's cottage on Block Island nourished and replenished her spirit to continue her vocation as an educator and proliferator of the peace and justice work that is the legacy of her family. Since Carla's retirement from the Syracuse City School District in 2023, her main focus has been caring for her cherished husband, Marc, who courageously battles the final stages of a rare form of early-onset dementia. Carla's practice of long-distance running keeps her strong for this work.