Scape

Luci Shaw's poetry is already widely known and celebrated. Scape, her 2013 collection of new poetry, explores metaphors of spiritual significance, paying attention to the small and seemingly irrelevant events of living and listening to nature. Wise, thoughtful, and probing, her sensuous lyrics find fresh connections and relationships between God and his created universe.More than a book, Scape is a sacred offering, a scape we can hold that directs our gaze and supports us, in the long, shivering road up, up.--Suzanne Paola, author, The Lives of the SaintsLuci Shaw notes in one of her new poems that, 'without the impediment / of gravity the dancer / cannot dance.' And it's just that wise understanding of the weights and balances of life that her poems get so right. . . . Such abstractions live in the particulars of an egg's brownness, a snail's glistening trail, a sparrow's 'economical and precise' pecking, and the taut feel of a trout on the line. Luci Shaw's poems incarnate the 'slow pleasure of being.'--Robert Cording, author, Common LifeLuci's most witty, brilliant book. . . . One after another, these poems ground the reader utterly in the concrete and physical--and then, with the jet engine of metaphor, they take off into the world of spirit.--Jeanne Murray Walker, University of DelawareLuci Shaw is a poet of spirit, of nature, and of body. Her gift is an observant eye that looks straight into the face of what she sees. . . . This new collection is made strong by her eye that is faithful to what is, and the ability to describe her world--whether her eye is on the spires or on the sparrow.--Diane Glancy, Azusa Pacific University'The maples drop their syllables until / the grass burns with words.' Once again, Luci Shaw, master of the deceptively simple lyric, captures the 'glory leaking through' ordinary experience. Spun in wonder, freighted with feeling and faith, these poems dart with the grace of small birds or drift like brilliant leaves from old trees. Such a pleasure to read this fine collection!--Julia Spicher Kasdorf, author, Poetry in AmericaLuci Shaw is a widely known and published writer, essayist, and lecturer on art and faith. Born in the UK in 1928, she has lived in Australia and Canada and now makes her home in Bellingham, Washington, with her husband, John Hoyte. Since 1989 she has been writer in residence at Regent College, Vancouver. She is winner of the tenth annual Denise Levertov award for sustained engagement in creative writing in the Judeo-Christian tradition.