You Woke Me in the Dark

By Arnal Kennedy

Arnal Kennedy went to college, served our country during the Vietnam War, raised children, worked as an actor, experienced homelessness for twenty years, and kicked the habit, among many other things. Currently, Arnal lives and works with the Los Angeles Catholic Workers, washing dishes at their Skid Row soup kitchen and serving coffee on the early morning breakfast line. Arnal devotes himself to serving the poor, peacemaking, prayer, and poetry. His book explores the themes of homelessness, drug abuse, relationships, family, war, and the mystery of God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781257168408

Book preview

978-1-25716-840-8

Introduction

His voice carries throughout the soup kitchen—a Stevie Wonder melody lacing past volunteers chopping vegetables, buttering bread, stirring giant pots of soup. He’s up to his elbows in steaming water, scrubbing an endless cycle of dishes. Arnal Kennedy shouts out my name: Megan! Do you want to hear a new poem I wrote? And I turn from what I’m doing to listen, to sit at his feet so to speak, to learn from a truly great practitioner of the art called poetry.

If you’re a Catholic Worker, especially if you live in the L.A. Sister House Network, you’ve probably met the author of this book. If you lived on the streets, or still do, you may have passed a bottle with him or shared a heartwarming story on a chilly night. If you were in Vietnam, he may have been your brother. And if you believe in the promise of peace, he is certainly your friend.

Arnal Kennedy went to college, served our country during the Vietnam War, raised children, kicked the habit, experienced homelessness for twenty years, and worked as an actor, among many other things. I met Arnal in 2005 when I moved to Los Angeles in order to live and serve with the Los Angeles Catholic Workers (LACW). When Arnal was homeless, he frequented the LACW soup kitchen, and in 2002 he moved into the LACW guest house. Arnal has become the devoted LACW soup kitchen dishwasher, as well as coffee server for the early morning breakfast line. Arnal is now a Catholic Worker in every sense of the word, devoting himself to service, peacemaking, prayer, and generosity of spirit.

As well, Arnal is one of the most talented poets I know. Holding an MFA in Poetry from the renowned Beat school, Naropa University, I have had the privilege to work with and learn from many of the great living writers. Like them, Arnal Kennedy has the ability to tap into the realm of spirit and express the human condition in all its horrible beauty. Arnal likes to remind me that poetry is nothing without heart—if you can’t feel it, then it’s just words on paper. He recently took a poetry class at UCLA, and I noticed that Arnal’s work became more technically proficient. However, unlike many amateur poets, the soul of Arnal’s work wasn’t lost to his newly developed technique. Instead, his poetry simply became more complex: tight technique meets honest grit.

Arnal’s work will remind you of your first love—a discovery that the world can look a different way, that there is joy somewhere it never once existed. Arnal’s work will also break your heart, taking you deep into the realms of war, addiction, grief, and regret. But Arnal offers us profound hope—not only for resilience and one’s ability to begin anew, but also for peaceful redemption and the unboundless love of God. To read the poetry of Arnal Kennedy is to witness a man travel the realms of hell, only to find heaven’s doorstep. And the loveliest part? That Arnal Kennedy, poet, peacemaker, and prophet, has volunteered to wash God’s dishes until all the homeless bellies are full. I think Arnal is beloved of God,