One Sunday morning at St. Joseph's here in Biddeford Maine, as I was greeting the people after Mass, a parishioner handed me a poem she had written. The poem made me cry as it echoed the very essence of a previously given homily. As more and more poem-gifts have flowed from the heart of Jacqueline Newport, I have truly come to reverence and love the poetic Voice of God that so many of her poems truly seem to be!

Jacqueline Newport, like every one of us, has suffered much, in her life, in her marriage, in her day-to-day journey on this earth. However, very early on her suffering journey God seems to have blessed Jacqueline with the gift of poetry, a gift that has brought her courage, sanity, peace and even a taste of holiness. Her Parish Priests suggested to her earlier this year that she talk to Father Pat about getting her poem-gifts published, that others who have travelled similar roads might benefit from her God-given gifts. On behalf of all those who will indeed be able to benefit from those poem-gifts, I am deeply forever grateful to those priests for their gift to all of us.

As you read the volumes of Jacqueline Newport's poem from the beginning to the present, you grow to know and love the suffering poet that God has so evidently blessed. As you open the volumes and select any poem, however, you become more and more Aware of God's loving blessings for you on your own suffering journey!

May God continue to bless His dear suffering poet with many more poem-gifts and all the other gifts that come with them! Any may God bless all of us who are privileged to read these poems with His manifold gifts of courage, sanity, peace and even a taste of holiness!

Father Pat Martin -- November 1, 2006

For poetry to bring us to deeper understanding of mystery it must do at least two things; it must be specifically vague and vaguely specific. These two realms are the criteria where I have found Jacqueline's poetry to be so profoundly effective. In being specific vague Jacqueline has brought out pieces of life's experiences in a way that all people can share in the experience without having necessarily lived the experience itself. For those who have lived the same or similar experience there is an automatic recognition of “my experience by it not being exclusively someone else's. At the same time there is a comforting tone that allows one to know that we are not alone in life's experiences. In this way I feel that at times Jacqueline's poetry is very much in line with the best literary expression of human experience, the Psalms.

The other side of Jacqueline's poetry has both been present and grown as she has grown in faith and trust in God. In this side of Jacqueline's poetry, the vaguely specific pieces express the reality of our experience of a transcendent God with concrete realities of our world. This is where faith and feeling come to be expressed not through vague sentiments, but rather through specific truths that point to God's presence and love. This became evident to me when she wrote a poem on the experience of a six week reflection on the Eucharist called Eucharist: Source and Summit. In this poem [Tapestry, (Vol 5)], written and presented to the reflection group, she captured the concrete elements of the reflection. In doing so she expressed pieces of the six-week reflections in such a way that mystery remained mystery, but with concrete elements of familiarity.

I thank Jacqueline for her attentiveness and dedication to bringing so much about her life and faith to others that we may all share in the journey of faith she has traveled. My prayers and best wishes are with her for her future endeavors. May all who read her work find some inspiration to grow in their own faith.

Father Kent Ouellette -- March, 2009