Customer Reviews

Cries of The Spirit

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Marilyn Sewell's work on "Cries of the Spirit" was more than worth the price and I have wanted to thank her over and over. A death in the family and I grab her book to find the right words, a marriage and there she is again, providing a womans point of view from a variety of woman that I have found extremely useful. No matter the occassion, a new baby in the family for instance, and flip of the pages and Marilyn found one more woman who said what I want to say beautifully. Not to mention the times I sit alone, staring at the bay and use the poetry for inspiration for myself. "Cries of the Spirit" (and laughter I might add) is a worth while find!

I've had this book for about three years, and given it as a gift numerous times to my women friends, because it's the perfect companion in any mood and for any occasion. Marilyn Sewell has collected a broad spectrum of poetry from women, both famous poets and not-so-famous, and collected the entries into categories that make it simple to find a reading for just about any occasion or ceremony. There are wise words here, beautifully presented. Bring this book back into print! Buy it! Have it on hand as an instant resource, along with the collections by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon ("Earth Prayers," "Life Prayers," "Prayers for a Thousand Years") for all those occasions when you need the exact right perfect reading for an important moment.

This volume is shaped around intuitive explorations of women's spiritual journey: "Owning Self," "The Imperative of Intimacy, "Mothering," "Generations," "Sacredness in the Ordinary," "Images of the Divine." Though my 18-year-old daughter and I have come to perceive ourselves as women very differently, this is a volume we both have come to love. I wouldn't think of sending her off to college without her own copy!

Almost every page of this collection is an immediate, here-and-now blessing, affirming the special qualities, intuitions and essences that are being a woman. I pick it up again and again for laughter, comfort, wisdom, fellowship and pure enjoyment. Some authors are old friends; meeting new poets was wonderful. It is a terrific introduction to literature and a great gift.

If you like poetry, if you are a woman or like women, if you are searching for or have found spirituality, you have encountered a book that feels like home to your soul. Cries of the Spirit is a book that touches on Feminine Spirituality in every way I could imagine possible. It felt like a big soft couch to my soul

A truly rich and diverse sourcebook of poetry and prose which defines women through our writings. The book is an anthology of more than 300 poems and several of prose pieces by such authors as: Annie Dillard, Denise Levertov, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Marge Piercy and earlier writers such as Hildegard von Bingen and Margaret Fuller. My favorite writings are from the hearts and minds of writers such as Joyce Carol Oates, "Growing Together," Margaret Atwood, "Five Poems For Grandmothers," Gwendolyn Brooks, "The Mother," and Annie Dillard "Holy the Firm". These writings offer visions of women from the ordinary to the eclectic. Marilyn Sewell, a Unitarian Universalist minister & doctoral candidate, offers an inciteful introduction to this book. I often dip into this book when seeking just the right poem to review or to remind myself how diverse the women's writing movement is. I give this book a huge FIVE stars. And I hope others will be able to enjoy this book as much as I have.

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This is the only anthology of poetry that I have ever read cover to cover without putting it down. This book is comfort, a talk with your best girlfriends, encouragement, enlightenment and thought-provocation all between two covers. I would recommend it for any woman's private library and the libraries of her friends who love good words, moving images and beauty.

a carefully, prayerfully selected collection of poems of spirit, insight, and power. An inspiration and a great way to find new fine poets and authors

This wonderful collection of women's poetry and prose is the perfect gift for your favorite spirit - filled women.

I purchased this book recommended by a very dear friend and I devoured it like a starved child. I was so hungry for woman connection; for a sense of belonging; hungry for woman's strength, faith, and resolve; hungry for mothering and birthing. I read these beautiful, powerful women's peoms and I wept, I laughed, I rejoiced; their spirits filling me with a a fulness I've not felt in my life before. Their honesty, their heartache, their courage, their love filled me with longing to be part of, to be with, to birth, to mother, to befriend, to encourage, to laugh, to love, to feel, to reach, to hold on to and to let go. I couldn't put these words down, this book, this women's book began quenching my deepest thirst, to affirm my deepest yearnings, to allow me my secret, innermost feelings. Poet after poet, life after life, tear after tear, courage after fear, love after forgiveness, finding after seeking; the cries of these women poets reached into my soul and whispered: "you are not now, nor ever have been, or ever will be, alone. The cries of your spirit are heard; they are the thread that continues to weave this life of women's journey. You stand with us and we join hands, we embrace, we weep, we laugh, we pray, we sing, we dance, we hold on, and we let go. You are part of the tapestry we weave for those who come after us. Your heartache, your searching, your longing, ah...they are in us; you carry us now and you will be strong; you are not alone. We live in each other. We are each other, unique, yet one. Forever."