Interview Questions for Steven Riddle

I ended up not going to San Diego this weekend due to a scheduling foul-up. Instead I have been enjoying the lovely autumn weather, the corn harvest at the Ardenwood Historic Farm (picked lots of corn today), and finally got around to writing the promised questions for Steven. I have been in a particularly poetic mood these last few days, so:

1. Steven, you are obviously keenly interested in and deeply knowledgeable of poetry. What do you expect from a poem?

2. Who is the most striking example of a Catholic poet that you can think of, off the top of your head? I mean Catholic in terms of spirit of the poetry, not in terms of the actual confessional status of the poet (for instance, I consider Rembrandt one of the great Catholic painters, in spite of the fact that he was a member of the Reformed Protestant Church). Please explain.

3. In your field (modern science in general, and museum crowds in particular) you must be a rara avis as a faithful and devout Catholic. What are the conflicts that come up and how do you deal with them?

4. If you could be any kind of tree… No, just kidding. The real question: has the writing of Teilhard de Chardin influenced you much? I do not mean this as a gotcha question. We all know that he had some iffy ideas, but he was deadly serious in his attempts to reconcile anthropology and theology. How have you interacted with his better ideas (that is, if you have given him some serious study)?

5. What direction do you see poetry going in? Any particular poets that do it for you these days?