Book Review: Seasons, Saints & Angels

I just picked up my copy of Seasons, Saints & Angels, poems by Kendall Dana Lockerman, an Episcopal layperson in my Diocese.  
You can get a copy, too, from Amazon here.  Here's the review I wrote on Amazon:


I have been a fan of Kendall Lockerman's poems ever since I read one he posted on his Facebook page a couple of years ago, and I am so happy to see this collection now in print. 


A true poet in both sensibility and skill, Ken points, evokes, invites, hints at the mysteries that he knows surround us all, all the time, in a way that only those who know grace because of their own need for it can do. These poems are brimming with grace.

And yet, too, he is wry and raw, heartbroken and hopeful. (How else do you describe someone who writes lines like, "It is the mad fury of the beating wings of angels that gives heartbeats to prayers" and "Death and birth and tears rolled out of the ashes" and "The stones beneath my feet have heard the voice that called forth the creation," and "I confess that I am not devout/I am only faithful").

I've used Ken's poems for my own devotions and also quoted one in a sermon, with his permission, to the delight of my hearers (as another reviewer mentioned, Ken's voice is also, at times, playful). These poems bring to life the ridiculous beauty and angel-breathed mystery that can be seen all around us, even in times of pain and sorrow, if we would but have the eyes to see it. I heartily recommend this little volume to you.


Comments

Kay G. said…
Thanks for letting me know about this book! It reminds me of another book, Angels Without Wings by Jane Vonnegut Yarmolinsky. The only review on Amazon that I ever did was on this book. (It is under my husband's name, R. Guest, but I wrote it.) Oh, and my husband has been back in the hospital, so please keep us in your prayers!
Kay
P.S. I have started my own blog but I don't know how to show a link to it yet but it is:
www.georgiagirlwithanenglishheart.blogspot.com
Kay, so sorry to hear that your husband is back in the hospital - what a tough time y'all are having right now! Congrats on starting your blog -
I'll check it out soon!
Freda said…
Thanks for sharing the details of this book - one to add to the Wish List, I think. I gather it is from the Creation Spirituality viewpoint, possibly that is what gives such evocative images as the mad fury of the angels" wings.
Freda - I'm not sure how I'd describe Ken's viewpoint but it's always interesting.