From as far back as I can remember, I have been been overwhelmed with wonder and awe for all God’s majesty. I’m a born poet and my poet’s eye can find beauty even in the midst of mess and pain—and see something numinous in the ordinary. I’m a professor, artist and author, and I want to guide your eyes to find the wonder and awe in your life—the poetry of God the Word made Flesh and the Author of Salvation, whose very life was the most perfect poem. Whatever your story, however painful, be assured that God always leaves signs and symbols along the way. Consider the sand dollar. Sand dollars are hard to find along the beach; you have to really look for them. But each carries the five wounds of Christ, and tells a story of faith! What’s your story? I’ll help you discover new insights on your journey.
Annabelle Moseley is an award-winning American poet, inventor of a new poetic form, the “mirror sonnet,” Professor of Theology, and the author of eleven books including Sacred Braille: The Rosary as Masterpiece through Art, Poetry and Reflections, which has received the Imprimatur, and has been honored as a Finalist for the 2020 Association of Catholic Publishers Awards in the category of Prayer. Sacred Braille has been transcribed into Braille through the Xavier Society for the Blind and made available for free to the visually impaired.
The Sand Dollar
You,
The sand dollar I have found,
You are marred—
powdered and breakable.
I feel your beauty
as I trace the patterns of your face,
and hold you from the salty grasp of beachcombers.
You have been picked up many times
but never kept.
There is a void in your center,
where you carry the memory of your source,
where you vaguely remember the water
running through your body.
You wait for me to drop you where I found you—
I shake away your gritty sediment
and see your strength as you emerge from the ocean
and carry the journey on your face.
—Annabelle Moseley
Host of the Catholic podcasts on Sacramental Living: “Then Sings My Soul,” and “Destination:Sainthood,” on WCAT Radio, Moseley is also a recurring guest on Relevant Radio’s “Morning Air,” has appeared on Catholic Faith Network and various other television venues, and her work as a poet is featured as one of five artists profiled in the 2019 Documentary Film, Masterpieces, about the vocational call of the arts. The film is available to view through Amazon Prime and Formed.org. Her work has inspired collaborations with artists, been set to music by composers, and featured in anthologies, textbooks and such journals as Our Sunday Visitor, The New York Times, The National Review, and O: the Oprah Magazine.
Annabelle Moseley has served as Poet-in-Residence of the Stevenson Academy of Fine Arts, Writer-in-Residence of the Walt Whitman Birthplace, and 2014 Long Island Poet of the Year. Annabelle is a dynamic and engaging speaker and has led many retreats and presentations. She is the founder and presenter for “Desert Bread,” a series of presentations on faith and the arts that concludes with sharing a meal and taking a collection of canned food for food pantries. To book Annabelle to speak at your next parish or group event, contact: bookings@tourguideofwonder.com
Born on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Annabelle Moseley was baptized at the Church of St. Louis de Montford, a saint known for his special devotion to the Rosary. She takes seriously these early calls in her life to spread devotion to the Rosary. Raised on the North Shore of Long Island, and influenced by five generations of her family in an unforgettable red house she calls “Our House of the Sacred Heart,” Moseley continues to witness to the lessons of faith she’s learned, in her own home on the North Shore of Long Island where she resides with her husband and children, grateful for the domestic church they have built.