In Evensong for Shadows, deferred hope becomes fulfilled hope. Like the Psalmist, the poet's expressions of praise alternate with those of suffering. This book sways with a musicality of theme, form, and language, while refrains about miscarriage and motherhood resound throughout. Here readers find hymns of witness to wonders and griefs--songs of the infinite and the infinitesimal. Rooted in Pennsylvania and immersed in the Christian and liberal arts traditions, Wheeler presents a collection with depth, breadth, and a music that endures.
"Beehives in the church rafters, a widow's warning to a bride, a litany for the highway patrol--in such variety, all couched in precise, observed detail, Shanna Powlus Wheeler extends the devotional to every reader. 'Born seeking likenesses, each of us,' she writes, and proceeds to offer proof of just how engaging the discovery of natural metaphor can be in these accomplished, moving poems."
--Gary Fincke, author, Bringing Back the Bones: New and Selected Poems
"In Evensong for Shadows, poet Shanna Powlus Wheeler sings what is too often left unsung. Here are the lonely notes we hum in private and the fierce refrains we bellow to the universe. Here also is a 'Doxology with Crow,' a 'Fertility Lullaby,' a 'Descant on the 23rd Psalm,' and praise for wind chime and water chestnut. . . . Throughout, she 'watch[es] through rain for spring.' Like her 'shrill chorus of starlings,' she 'swarm[s] skyward . . . back to the mouth of God.' She takes us with her!"
--Marjorie Maddox, author, True, False, None of the Above
"Shanna Powlus Wheeler's poignant, first full-length book of poems, Evensong for Shadows, not only is 'pregnant with questions' but also brims with beautiful songs--psalm and descant, doxology and hymn, ode and ballad--for she is a poet willing to 'trek bur-weed paths / at dusk and wait / for one kind glowworm / to light its lamp.'"
--Julie L. Moore, author, Full Worm Moon
Shanna Powlus Wheeler directs the Writing Center at Lycoming College. She is the author of the chapbook Lo & Behold (2009). Her poetry has appeared in a wide range of publications--from North American Review to Christian Century. She lives with her husband and two children near Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
