A Local Habitation: Poems And Homilies

This delightful book contains 53 poems and 62 homilies composed over the last decade by Peter Steele SJ, professor emeritus of English at The University of Melbourne and long term scholar-in-residence at Newman College. Abundant photographs, both old and contemporary, help to capture the splendour of Steele’s college dwelling, designed by Walter Burley Griffin, and the rhythmic rituals of his life as creative writer, scholar, priest and educator. Steele articulates the wonders of his local environs – be it the College or the shops and restaurants of Lygon Street – and the diverse dedications of his poems conjure up the lives and faces of his many friends. His response, however, to the physicality of his immediate surrounds is anchored in an extraordinary breadth of knowledge. It links the familiar with the mysterious, and is fuelled by a spirituality expressive of hope and love that excludes no-one.

Margaret Manion, Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne.