Luci Shaw is now 90 years old. The author of more than 35 collections of poetry and creative non-fiction over the last five decades, she describes her dedication to this art as a burden to “speak into a culture that finds it hard to listen.” This collection of new poems—all composed over the last two years—is in many ways the culmination of a stunning career. The joy and responsibility of the poet is to focus on particulars within the universe, finding fragments of meaning that speak to the imagination. Ordinary things may reveal the extraordinary for those willing to take time to investigate and ponder. In this fresh collection of poems, Luci Shaw practices the art of seeing, and then writing what she sees, realizing that beauty is often focused in the Eye of the Beholder . Eye of the Beholder is meant to awaken in readers awareness of the extraordinary in the ordinary. They will find in this collection a focus for meditation and be excited into their own imaginative writing.
Author
Luci Shaw is a poet, essayist, teacher and retreat leader. Born in England in 1928, she has lived in Australia and Canada and (since 1950) in the United States. She is the author of a number of nonfiction books, including God in the Dark and Water My Soul. Her first book of poetry, Listen to the Green, was published in 1971. It was followed by several others, including Polishing the Petosky Stone, Writing the River, The Angles of Light and, most recently, Accompanied by Angels and What the Light Was Like. Her poems have appeared in publications such as Books & Culture, The Christian Century, Crux, Image, Radix, Rock & Sling, Nimble Spirit and Weavings. Musical settings for several of her poems have been composed by Knut Nystedt, Alice Parker, Frederick Frahm and Allen Cline. Many of her poems have also been anthologized. Currently, Shaw serves as Writer in Residence at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, while based in Bellingham, Washington, with her husband, John Hoyte. She also travels widely to speak and teach on topics such as poetry, journaling and the Christian imagination. Her website reflects some of her many other interests—wilderness camping, sailing, gardening and nature photography. [From Amazon's Luci Shaw page]
