Table of Contents
Personal Thanks xiii
Introduction: "The Poem as Devotional Practice" Luke Hankins xv
A Note on the Selection xxviii
Poems
T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) 3
from Four Quartets
East Coker (section IV)
Little Gidding (section V)
E. E. Cummings (1894-1962) 6
[i thank You God for most this amazing]
Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989) 7
A Way to Love God
Theodore Roethke (1908-1963) 9
In a Dark Time
M. Vasalis (1909-1998) (trans. Lessing and Young) 10
Simultaneity
Patrice de la Tour du Pin (1911-1975) (trans. Grotz) 11
Psalm 6
Psalm 25
Psalm 41
Psalm 52
Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004) (trans. Milosz and Hass) 15
An Alcoholic Enters the Gates of Heaven
Prayer
William Everson (Brother Antoninus) (1912-1994) 18
Storm-Surge
R. S. Thomas (1913-2000) 20
Kneeling
Threshold
John Berryman (1914-1972) 22
from "Eleven Addresses to the Lord"
9
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) 23
Evening: Zero Weather
O Sweet Irrational Worship
William Stafford (1914-1993) 26
["Are you Mr. William Stafford?"]
Madeline DeFrees (b. 1919) 27
Skid Row
Psalm for a New Nun
from The Light Station on Tillamook Rock
XII. Geography as Warning
János Pilinszky (1921-1981) (trans. Hughes and Csokits) 31
Complaint
Richard Wilbur (b. 1921) 32
Love Calls Us to the Things of This World
A World Without Objects is a Sensible Emptiness
Anthony Hecht (1923-2004) 34
from "Rights and Ceremonies"
The Room
Denise Levertov (1923-1997) 36
Advent 1966
Credo
Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000) (trans. Bloch and Mitchell) 38
Near the Wall of a House
Relativity
Zbigniew Herbert (1924-1998) (trans. Valles) 40
Breviary
Vassar Miller (1924-1998) 41
Cologne Cathedral
Dark Cycle
A. R. Ammons (1926-2001) 42
Hymn
Luci Shaw (b. 1928) 43
Mary's Song
Geoffrey Hill (b. 1932) 44
Tenebrae
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) 47
To Know the Dark
The Hidden Singer
Leonard Cohen (b. 1934) 48
If It Be Your Will
When I Left the King
I Draw Aside the Curtain
Charles Wright (b. 1935) 50
Georg Trakl Journal
Alicia Suskin Ostriker (b. 1937) 52
Prayer in Autumn
Seamus Heaney (b. 1939) 54
In Iowa
Robert Siegel (b. 1939) 55
A. M.
Voice of Many Waters
Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996) 57
December 24th, 1971
Judy Little (b. 1941) 59
Rosary Recitation
Louise Glück (b. 1943) 61
Vespers ([I don't wonder where you are anymore.])
Vespers ([Even as you appeared to Moses, because])
Richard Jackson (b. 1946) 62
Tidings
Stella Vinitchi Radulescu (b. 1946) 65
Scream
Starting Point
Agha Shahid Ali (1949-2001) 68
from "From Amherst to Kashmir"
7. Film Bhajan Found on a 78 RPM
9. God
Robert Cording (b. 1949) 70
Advent Stanzas
Marie Howe (b. 1950) 75
The Star Market
Prayer
Suzanne Underwood Rhodes (b. 1950) 77
Sunday Service at the Home for the Incurables
The Gardener
Andrew Hudgins (b. 1951) 79
Piss Christ
Praying Drunk
Mark Jarman (b. 1952) 82
from Unholy Sonnets
Prologue
[Soften the blow, imagined God, and give]
Five Psalms
Sofia M. Starnes (b. 1952) 86
A Way Through Words
Close to the Tree
Richard Chess (b. 1953) 88
Dead Letters
Jane Hirshfield (b. 1953) 89
Against Certainty
Richard Jones (b. 1953) 90
Miracles
Gjertrud Schnackenberg (b. 1953) 91
Supernatural Love
Franz Wright (b. 1953) 93
The Only Animal
The Process
Scott Cairns (b. 1954) 96
Adventures in New Testament Greek: Hairesis
The Theology of Doubt
from "The Recovered Midrashim of Rabbi Sab"
3. The Sacrifice of Isaac
Nicholas Samaras (b. 1954) 99
The Unpronounceable Psalm
Psalm as Frustration I Can Live With
Mary Karr (b. 1955) 100
The Last of the Brooding Miserables
For a Dying Tomcat Who's Relinquished His Former Hissing and Predatory Nature
Patrick Donnelly (b. 1956) 102
Prayer Over Dust
On Being Called to Prayer While Cooking Dinner for Forty
Li-Young Lee (b. 1957) 104
Changing Places in the Fire
Bruce Beasley (b. 1958) 106
Damaged Self-Portrait
Marjorie Maddox (b. 1959) 114
Her Stations of the Cross
Eric Pankey (b. 1959) 117
Homage
Carl Phillips (b. 1959) 118
Hymn
Harry Newman (b. 1961) 120
Crystal Lake
Malaika King Albrecht (b. 1965) 121
On the Shore at Holden Beach
Sound Knows its Place in the Air
Maurice Manning (b. 1966) 123
from Bucolics
I
XII
XIV
LXXII
Christian Wiman (b. 1966) 126
Every Riven Thing
One Time
C. Dale Young (b. 1969) 128
Nature
Sepsis
Morri Creech (b. 1970) 130
Dogwood
Provision
Philip Metres (b. 1970) 132
Votive Ivory on Display: Nicodemus Below the Cross from "A Book of Hours"
1
2
Jennifer Grotz (b. 1971) 135
Snowflakes
Doubt
Philip Memmer (b. 1971) 137
Psalm
Parable
Sufjan Stevens (b. 1975) 139
Casimir Pulaski Day
Daniel Westover (b. 1975) 141
Of Flesh and Heaven
from "A Prayer's Lost Language"
6. Stone River
Jericho Brown (b. 1976) 144
The Burning Bush
Michael Schiavo (b. 1976) 145
Of Song
Riot There
Tired All
Ilya Kaminsky (b. 1977) 148
Author's Prayer
Envoi
Amit Majmudar (b. 1979) 150
from Azazil
Steven C. Brown Jr. (b. 1980) 157
July's Entomology
Late Hours for the Harvesters
Tarfia Faizullah (b. 1980) 159
Acolyte
Ramadan Aubade
Hannah Faith Notess (b. 1981) 162
Friday
Sunday
Malachi Black (b. 1982) 164
from Quarantine
Sext
Vespers
Matins
Nate Klug (b. 1985) 166
Dare
Ashley Anna McHugh (b. 1985) 167
One Important and Elegant Proof
All Other Ground is Sinking Sand
Anna Connors (b. 1991) 171
Hanging
Appendix: An Interview with Luke Hankins Justin Bigos 173
Contributor Biographies 179
Permissions 200
About the Editor 208
