Between Mirage and Miracle

In this volume, Shepherd selects from these, and from other unpublished works, to shape a series of poems that seek to portray and even illuminate, to some extent, the life of the spirit. They begin by tracing the progress of a typical year--January through December--but also by noting, and celebrating at times, the high points of "The Christian Year": Lent-Easter, Pentecost, Thanksgiving, Advent-Christmas, and Epiphany. Other, more generally themed, less calendar-related poems follow, including poems that reflect on the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center--an attack in which several of the author's parishioners and friends were killed.

This is a book to be dipped into, rather than read right through. It should provide fertile soil for the practice of daily prayer and meditation.