These poems represent the author’s brief journey through Celtic lore and spirituality, a journey that informed his Catholic faith, heart, and mind with a more poignant awareness of the deep, unwavering presence between Creator and creature. In this collection we may find an understanding of suffering and sacrifice from which we otherwise often turn away in fear — in a type of dark night of the soul — the Beloved who beckons from within the human heart and leads us to the light that enlivens all things.
Through the Summerlands is a thought-provoking inspiration. It is a quick read, but I highly encourage time spent on reflection on each poetic stepping stone of the journey presented. It has been a long time since I have read something that has slowed me down, nay…stopped me in my tracks. This book is a keeper. I have had it in my possession only a few hours and I have already re-read several poems, studying, reflecting on how this speaks to my own life, the phase that I am in and my own Catholic spiritual journey.
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
This little volume immediately reminded me of Seamus Heaney and my good friend Karen Moloney and her work on his Celtic background. The author deepened his commitment to his Catholic faith and echoes St. John of the Cross and his dark night of the soul. There is a Beloved who beckons during the darkest times and the most troublesome of human experiences.
This is a nice compact edition that is easy to read, put down, contemplate and reflect, and pick back up. It can be read at your leisure. I thought it was clearly Christian without being overwhelmingly Catholic, and provided a definite Celtic spiritual feel. I could imagine using some of the poems for presentation or performance among other readers of poetry. I thought the rhyming seemed a little forced at times and could have been left out in places, and some of the poems veered from mystical to modern a little too sharply, though I appreciated the wider range at times. It is the type of book that reminds me of Lectio Divina where I could let the Spirit guide my choice of poem in order to find meaning for my life. I look forward to perhaps a larger volume of similar poems from this author.
What a nice quick read. It such a wonderful journey to invest some time into.
