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Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP
What it Means to Be an Active Practicing Thief
What it Means to Be an Active Practicing Thief
Preface
The arts bring us to truth about ourselves, others, and life itself.
They take us by the hand and lead us to where we need to go. They befriend us, and are faithful even when we wish they wouldn’t be.
Reading poetry and writing poetry, taking photos and quietly taking in others’ photography, made me want to see like they saw. I became a poet and a photographer. It was then I discovered that I had been both all along.
These two arts have formed me to approach life in a different way.
I’m ever grateful to my father for being willing to buy me The Sunday New York Times in the 1960s. To spend an extra $1.00 on this teenager, when for another 50 cents he got both The Daily Mirror and The Daily News–which had the funnies included–for the rest of the family!
I would read the Book Review section of the Times and want to write like those writers did. Words came from a close listening as I read contemporary poets like Robert Frost. The Dominican Sisters I had in school encouraged the writings that I would do for school publications.
Each Sunday, I would spread the ads for Lord & Taylor women’s suits and dresses on the kitchen table and try to recreate the sometimes full-page sketches. I wanted the skill out of which their art was born.
Photos would come years later as I used the photography of others as my own personal tutors. What came from catching an angle, seeing something ordinary in a new way, made me want to get closer because there was more to see. And, because light moves so quickly, immediacy was the key. What started as attraction led to closer attention.
So, this present collection of poetry and photography is the result of years of listening from a place of silence. They were born from silent observation and obedience to silence. And, these many years later, I continue to want to steal even more of it.
I am an active practicing thief knowing that the booty is bottomless!
Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP
April, 2025
Reading Other Poets
Reading Other Poets
When I sit in awe at the sound of
their words,
listen to the journeys of
their hearts,
walk in the richness of
their memories,
I know myself as thief.
I know the envy in
my heart
wants, most of all,
to steal
their silence.
Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP
About Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP
About Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP
Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP, is a Dominican Sister of Hope living in Litchfield, Connecticut. Jo-Ann is a poet and photographer, and her poetry has appeared in national and international magazines. A member of the Dominican Institute for the Arts, she has had solo shows of her photography in New York and Connecticut.
Jo-Ann lectures frequently on the 14th-century English mystic Julian of Norwich as well as the interrelationship between art and spirituality. She is the author of Remember, Return, Rejoice: Journeying from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. She frequently serves as a supply preacher for numerous churches in northwestern Connecticut.
Her ministries have included being art and spirituality coordinator at Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center in Litchfield, associate director of vocations for the Archdiocese of Hartford, a script writer for the Office of Radio and Television of the Archdiocese of Hartford, and reporter and photographer for The Catholic Transcript newspaper in that archdiocese. She also has taught in elementary and secondary schools in New York and New Jersey.
A native of Paterson, New Jersey, she holds a BA in education from Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh, New York, and an MA in theology from Fordham University, Bronx, New York.
Listen to People and Their Poems, Featuring Jo-Ann
Listen to People and Their Poems, Featuring Jo-Ann
More about I Know Myself as Thief
More about I Know Myself as Thief
Events
Gunn Library, Washington Depot
April 26, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Contact Jo-Ann
All proceeds of book sales will benefit the mission of the Dominican Sisters of Hope.
Reviews
“Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP, wears a triple vocation. She is a devoted religious, a gifted photographer, and an even more-gifted poet. In her collection I Know Myself As Thief, she celebrates all three callings. Deeply felt, her poems have a stunning simplicity. Her photographs capture precisely the natural world. Her voice, at once humble and authoritative, speaks through all. An artist to her fingertips, she reveals the sacred to be found in all creation.”
—Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, playwright, novelist, and filmmaker
“Imagined dialogues with angelic messengers, the virtue of sin, and eternal mysteries make appearances in Jo-Ann Iannotti’s evocatively titled I Know Myself as Thief. The poems are inspired by day-to-day occurrences, recollections of world events such as 9/11, and individual responses to loss and love. Through her poetry and photography, she offers us a multi-layered experience of memory and
emotion, stirring recognition and familiarity.”
—Judith Petrovich, photographer
“These poems and photographs by Jo-Ann Iannotti are deeply inspirational. They are the work of a true artist, giving us piercing glimpses of the creative, loving presence of the Divine in this world we live in every day. I will always treasure this book.”
–Jack Gilpin, actor and Episcopal priest
“Jo-Ann Iannotti’s photos pull you from the surface seen to the depths felt. Her poems unfold the deep, revealing a fleeting world lit by words and permeated by spirit too close to touch. Don’t read this book. Savor it.”
–Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author of Accidental Grace: Poetry, Prayers, and Psalms
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