Poetry Unbound: Orlando Ricardo Menes — Grace

Host: Pádraig Ó Tuama
Date: January 23, 2026
Podcast: On Being Studios

Overview:

In this episode of Poetry Unbound, host Pádraig Ó Tuama delves into "Grace" by Orlando Ricardo Menes—a poem meditating on the mysterious, uncommodifiable nature of grace. Ó Tuama moves beyond personal discomfort with the term to explore how the poem refuses to define grace purely by commerce, law, or religion, highlighting its unpredictability, balm, and transformative presence—even in undeserving or unexpected places.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Confronting Words That Irritate

• Ó Tuama reflects on words that agitate him—“liminality,” “grace,” and email phrases like “just a gentle reminder” ([00:02]). Rather than dismiss them, he decides:
  • “My dislike of them should actually be a motivation…how can I pay attention to this?”
  • Curiosity driven by irritation leads him to a deeper engagement with the concept of grace.

2. Reading and Interpreting the Poem

• First Poem Reading ([01:34]):
  • Ó Tuama reads "Grace" in full, noting its playful yet incisive language using commerce and legal metaphor.
• Analysis:
  • The poem states what grace isn't: it can’t be bought, traded, or quantified; it’s not bound by contracts, religion, or law.
  • “He’s pushing us to think of something that will refuse to work within the context of any form of human control, be it spiritual or commercial or legal” ([03:01]).
  • The poem’s “apophatic” approach (defining by negation) builds expectation:
    • “Here’s what you can’t do. So our expectation is built up. And then we hear about something that comes astray and unbidden.” ([04:10])

3. The Mechanics and Tone of the Poem

• Ó Tuama discusses the demanding physicality of reading "Grace":
  • “There aren’t liquid sounds that slide over the tongue and lips…this is a poem that asks for demand” ([05:10]).
  • Gospel of Wildflowers and Weeds—Menes’ book—suggests the importance of amalgamation and conjunction (the “&” in the title).

4. Themes of Amalgamation vs. Refusal

• The poem juxtaposes grace’s refusal to be mixed with commerce or law, but allows amalgamation:
  • Skewed to love, caught between imminent and absolute, desired and unpredictable ([06:54]).
  • Brings in a quantum physics metaphor: “as quantum particles, both here and there, both full and empty.”

5. The Unpredictable, Unbidden Nature of Grace

• Grace arrives when not expected or deserved—“to arrive inopportunely and thus slip under hope, upsetting the earnest prayer, teasing our faith” ([08:20]).
• Rain in drought as metaphor: grace as balm for any thirst, not based on merit:
  • “The question isn’t whether the dry land does or doesn’t deserve the rain…it’s simply the drought scourged earth.” ([09:40])

6. Personal Resistance to Grace & Its Complexity

• Ó Tuama shares discomfort with “grace” in religious contexts that frame humanity harshly:
  • “You’re utterly terrible… but snow-like grace will cover you anyway…what a terrible way to think about human people” ([11:10]).
• The poem, though, pushes through religious limitation, emphasizing the anarchy and mystery of grace.
  • “There's an anarchy then, in the kind of grace that Orlando Ricardo Menes is describing…there's a mystery to that, something unbidden that speaks to the drought in us.” ([13:30])

7. The Consolation and Challenge of Grace

• Grace’s value is not in justifying it for the deserving but in being present “when the drought scourged earth…is given some balm, some consolation, some kindness that doesn’t explain anything and also isn’t explainable” ([14:15]).
  • The poem “skewed to love” offers a model for understanding grace that is generous, surprising, and uncontainable.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “My dislike of them should actually be a motivation to think, how can I pay attention to this?” —Pádraig Ó Tuama [00:17]
• “Grace is...asymmetric, parabolic, skewed to love, imminent and absolute, but also unpredictable, as quantum particles, both here and there, both full and empty.” —Orlando Ricardo Menes, as quoted by Ó Tuama [02:42]
• “He’s pushing us to think of something that will refuse to work within the context of any form of human control…” —Ó Tuama [03:02]
• “This is a poem that is about something that is, for many, a real consolation. Grace. And it is a poem that makes deep demands on the tongue.” —Ó Tuama [05:04]
• “Though we might breach the strictures of creed, it cannot be forfeited or suspended.” —Orlando Ricardo Menes, as quoted by Ó Tuama [06:20]
• “There’s an anarchy...that it doesn’t just come at the time at which you’d most want it, it comes at the time at which it comes. There’s a mystery to that, something unbidden that speaks to the drought in us.” —Ó Tuama [13:30]
• “Skewed to love, he said earlier on. And I think that’s a fine way to think about it.” —Ó Tuama [15:10]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:02-00:45] – Ó Tuama introduces theme; discusses personal irritation with “grace”
• [01:34-02:50] – First reading of “Grace” by Orlando Ricardo Menes
• [03:00-06:00] – Analysis: Grace versus commerce, law, religion; language building expectation
• [06:54-08:12] – Amalgamation & the quantum metaphor; language and mechanics of the poem
• [08:20-10:00] – Rain metaphor: grace as arriving unexpectedly, meeting need
• [11:10-12:30] – Personal resistance to the idea of grace in narrow religious terms
• [13:30-14:15] – The “anarchy” of grace, unpredictability, and presence as consolation
• [14:15-End] – Closing insights: openness to grace “skewed to love”; full poem re-read

Conclusion

(Orlando Ricardo Menes’s "Grace" invites readers to encounter grace not as a commodity, reward, or subject to human systems, but as an unpredictable, liberating, and compassionate force. Through personal reflection, close reading, and contextual analysis, Ó Tuama encourages listeners to let go of narrow definitions and welcome grace’s wild, loving arrival—especially in times of drought.)

“When the drought scourged earth…is given some balm, some consolation, some kindness that doesn’t explain anything and also isn’t explainable. Skewed to love.” —Pádraig Ó Tuama [14:15]

For those who haven’t listened:
This episode is an accessible, contemplative meditation on the radical benevolence of grace, thoughtfully guided by Ó Tuama’s honest reflection and Orlando Ricardo Menes’s evocative poetry.