Grace at Midwinter Hardcover – 2020 by Claudia Jensen Dudley

Grace at Midwinter is an invitation in poetry to travel through many lands. Here is the rich landscape of daily life, uncovering what is close to us. Here is the landscape of magic in unexpected forms. Here are lands where departure, the confrontation with death, is faced and experienced, along with whatever we can know of rebirth. Here are terrains of the spirit, spiritual search, as well as humor, where we can take our rest.

Here are word-songs informal and formal, including haiku, sonnets, narrative poetry. And here are the seasons, in all their depth, in particular winter with its diminished light. Figures from myth and spiritual tradition enliven the journey. Language as entrance to another world beckons.

At heart, these poems, alone and collectively, are about help. They explore what is possible even in the most difficult times. And as the contrapuntal title poem suggests, perhaps help (or hope) can come from many directions at the same time. Perhaps at this moment it is already here.