Red as a Lotus: Letters to a Dead Trappist [Paperback]

Lisa Gill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2002

Originally given an old copy of Thomas Merton's Seeds of Contemplation by a friend's mother, Lisa Gill began a series of fourteen-line poems which meticulously transcribe her own spiritual reckoning. As a response to Merton's life and echoing the resonance she found in a world-view which included Christian contemplative life as well as Eastern religions and political work, she has fashioned a testament driven by a "hard-ass" sincerity capable of seeing her own distinct life. With a hunger that fallibility makes for receptivity and an eye which stays true to the bone, these poems lead toward the deep nature of immediate landscape and psyche with a capacity for perceiving their connectedness. A resolution exists here that poetry is indeed a calling--a journey of consequences where one keeps asking questions while pulled by a sense of Presence. Thomas Merton acts as inspiration as well as a friend for such dialogue, someone to hold her to scrutiny and not allow the glossing over of what's real. In turns terrifying, funny, fierce, and transcendent, any one of these poems would reward a day's meditation, yet it is impossible to stop reading them one after the other. Spare and lush at the same time, they work together like a tapestry of ever deepening revelations. Take nothing for granted, open the door, notice everything--know yourself, know poverty, doubt, ecstasy. For Lisa Gill every day is the first and last day of the world. Brilliant and uncompromising, this book will certainly appeal to anyone drawn to the sensibilities of Merton or the beauty of language at the service of inquiry.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

A series of fourteen-line poems inspired by reading Thomas Merton's Seeds of Contemplation.

About the Author

Lisa Gill has received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry, a Gratitude Award from New Mexico Literary Arts, and an Achievement Award from the University of New Mexico, where she earned an MFA with distinction in 2010. She has published four previous books of poetry, Red as a Lotus: Letters to a Dead Trappist; Mortar & Pestle; Dark Enough; and The Relenting: A Play of Sorts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: La Alameda Press (December 31, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888809337
• ISBN-13: 978-1888809336
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #841,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An invitation to soul searching, well rewarded., October 25, 2007

By 

Bradford C. Richards - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Red as a Lotus: Letters to a Dead Trappist (Paperback)

I am usually skeptical about collections of poems on a single theme, but Gill's varied perspective and voice have given us something fresh on evey page. Her incisive wit and profound psychological insight are presented with such sublety, power, and seemingly effortless precision, the reader is continually drawn forward into the next poem. Gill's ability to transform hypothetical ideals into tangible personal experience is nothing short of inspirational. This is what poetry should be - philosophical, psychological, and real. This is a work that can truly stand the test of time.