The great poets help us look carefully and deeply at the world. When we do this, we find that God is there. This is the powerful spiritual truth that drives Twenty Poems to Nourish Your Soul, an extraordinary celebration of the poet's craft that opens the attentive reader's heart to the world of the spirit. Author/compilers Judith Valente and Charles Reynard, noted poets themselves, select poems that probe the classic themes of the spiritual life. With sensitive commentary, they show how great poetry can help us recognize and respond to God.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must Have,
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This review is from: Twenty Poems to Nourish Your Soul (Paperback)
The question of what inspires us and why is a topic of endless fascination. Virtually all of us can quotes lines from a poem that has special meaning for us. Many books which purport to be inspirational suffer from being either too personal or too general. "Twenty Poems to Nourish Your Soul" is that rare book which is both personal and inclusive. The selected poems are inspirational, and the essays are heart warming. To their credit the authors, both of whom are poets, strictly limit the amount of their own work that is presented, and focus on inspirational poems by others. Having said that, Mr. Reynard's poem alone is reason to buy this book. Altogether, an outstanding effort that belongs on everyone's bookshelf and is a superb gift for anyone you know. Very highly recommended.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Gem That Is Meant to Illuminate Gems,
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This review is from: Twenty Poems to Nourish Your Soul (Paperback)
This essay collection contains appreciations written with elegance and conviction about a group of fresh, often radiantly achieved, poems. They are authored by a range of (mostly) contemporary authors sharing a common reach toward the mystical. Intended to acquaint ordinary readers with spiritually refreshing poetry, "Twenty Poems," provides both a rich account of the transporting dimension of several marvelous poems; and serves as an enactment of spiritual energy itself. Authors Valente and Reynard, a married couple, are poets themselves; and there is disarming directness in the advice they offer on how to apprehend beautiful, spiritually based poetry; and how to most productively live with it afterwards - so that it lives within you. This book, meant to illuminate gems of poetry, is a gem itself.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
How Can I Keep from Singing?,
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This review is from: Twenty Poems to Nourish Your Soul (Paperback)
Twenty Poems to Nourish Your Soul
I haven't read a whole lot of poetry in my life, but I ran across this book on the internet and realized that I was acquainted with one of the authors some thirty years ago. Well, I had to buy it, and found it full of thoughts and feelings that soared straight into my soul. I have to be honest. Much of the book addresses the kind of sorrow and loss that most of us would rather not dwell upon. While it was painful to read about some of these experiences, it also led me beyond catharsis to a fuller experience of similar moments in my life. Coupled with the authors' gratitude for all things, this poetry can lead to authentic joy. Both my wife and I found the selected poems and the commentary meaningful and inciteful. We have shared feelings very similar to those of these married authors. I really appreciated authors Charles Reynard and Judith Valente's cosmic and Eucharistic perspective on life -- given from a layperson's perspective. This is so refreshing, and we need much more of it. Valente's Pulitzer Prize-nominated writing makes the book sail along as if on a breeze. Ultimately, Valente and Reynard use poetry to explore some really fundamental and universal questions with simple and concrete imagery. It reminds us that life is a sacrament; everyday life with all of its joys and sorrows, order and messiness, sacredness and profanity. All of it, ALL OF IT is pregnant with God. Given that reality, as Reynard says, "How can I keep from singing?" - Shawn Perry
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Wall Street Journal, Lisel Mueller, Mary Oliver, New York, Newman Center, Pulitzer Prize, Star Turn, The Summer Day, Walt Whitman, Judith Moffett, Martha's Vineyard, American Beauty, Circuit Court, Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, Etheridge Knight, Father Joe Kelly, Ignatius of Loyola, John O'Donohue, Wellesley College New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
alive together, poetry workshop Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Wall Street Journal, Lisel Mueller, Mary Oliver, New York, Newman Center, Pulitzer Prize, Star Turn, The Summer Day, Walt Whitman, Judith Moffett, Martha's Vineyard, American Beauty, Circuit Court, Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, Etheridge Knight, Father Joe Kelly, Ignatius of Loyola, John O'Donohue, Wellesley College New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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