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.