DAVID HODGES is a monk at the Cistercian Abbey on Caldey Island, off the south coast of Wales. Before entering the Abbey, he practised as a Solicitor in Basingstoke, Hampshire, having read Law and Economics at Trinity College, Cambridge. He has had poetry published in Spirituality, The Merton Journal, The Merton Seasonal, The Tablet, Cistercian Studies Quarterly, The Furrow, Theology, Mount Carmel, Religious Life Review, Studies, Cambria, on BBC Radio and Television, and in anthologies.
Picture: Francesca Jones
Brother David’s poetry reflects the monastic life of prayer in an island setting. Seascapes, the island flora and fauna, the flight of birds, liturgy, memoir and contemporary issues all provide material for the poet’s pen.
He has published nine volumes of poetry:
Songs from Solitude (1999)
On the Night Tide (2001)
Delayed by Rough Seas (2003)
Watching for the Wind (2006)
Echoes from a Far Shore (2009)
The Music of the Ocean (2013)
On The Seventh Wave (2016)
Deep unto Deep (2020)
Shelter from the Storm (2023)
All his books (including his most recent one Shelter from the Storm 2023) are available now – click for more information
The books can be obtained from the Caldey Island Web Shop : click here
His poetry has achieved wide acclaim:
Praise for his previous volumes, Songs from Solitude, On the Night Tide, Delayed by Rough Seas, Watching for the Wind, Echoes from a Far Shore and The Music of the Ocean, On The Seventh Wave and Deep Unto Deep:
……. His poems are best seen as icons pointing us to truths beyond the words ….”
– Kathleen Norris, The Benedictine Review
. . . . . These poems are not just beautifully crafted, and full of the winds, weathers and wildlife of the beautiful Pembrokeshire island of Caldey but they chart a profound spiritual journey . . .”
Amy Wack, Seren
“ . . . . . As ever, his poems evoke very sharply the physical environment, the rain and spray and wind and sun of the Atlantic; and they consistently steer us from the bracing weather of this coastal territory towards that other interior territory of the wind and sun of grace, leaving us on the coast of our humanity, invited into the depths . . .”
Rowan Williams
“ . . . . . an outstanding poet with wide appeal . . .”
Taras Miles, The American Benedictine Review
“. . . . . I enjoyed reading it . . .”
Michael Schmidt, Carcanet