The Angles of Light: New and Selected Poems by Luci Shaw
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a collection of wonderful poetry by an outstanding Christian poet. Luci Shaw's poems in this volume are original and subtle, personal and profound, drawing on nature to show that for the Christian, the physical world is not neutral, but sacramental. Shaw reminds us that nature is a means for God to bless us and show us aspects of His glory and His grace. In particular, I love how Shaw uses light as a metaphor throughout the book to communicate the ideas of both enlightenment and beauty.

For me, these poems give a sense of wonder that the physical world can convey to us day by day if we will take the time to slow down and notice. In this way, even though Shaw's poetry is much more free in form, it reminds me of the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Here's just a taste from one of my favorites in the book, "We know this to start with." This poem reminds us that we experience the wonder of this God-created, marvelous world through the five senses He gave us.

" . . . Somehow
without witchcraft or chicanery

we collect sounds and colors in a skyward
dish, like fruit in a bowl, and channel them
into verisimilitude--faces talking at us

from the tube's glass eye. Hallways of fog
enfold us in enigma. And then, the marvel of
window glass--how can anything be

hard enough to stop the hand and
hold its smudge while letting through this
soft light? The one wheat kernel that

breeds a thousand--a miracle of
loaves over and over again.
The stars, invisible in the blind day

revealed, thick as pollen, by the absence
of light."


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