We are here to abet creation and to witness it, to notice each thing, so each thing gets noticed. . . so that Creation need not play to an empty house. The key scene in M. Night Shyamalan's film Signs comes when Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) and his brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) are discussing the implications of what seems to be an alien visitation, signaled by a number of lights that have appeared over Mexico City: People --- break down into two groups. When they experience something lucky, group number one sees it as more than luck or a coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence that there is Someone out there watching out for them. Group number two sees it as just pure luck, a happy turn of chance. Well sure there are people in group number two are looking at those 14 lights in a very suspicious way. For them, the situation isn't fifty/ fifty could be bad, could be good , but deep down they feel that whatever happens, they are on their own, and that fills them with fear.Luci Shaw's poetry is based on the thrill of finding those signs in the everyday, of having faith that it is God who has placed them there and hope because of that. A few examples will serve to give the flavor of the batch and speak far more eloquently than can I: We know this to start with: Rising: The underground tree BubbleReading these poems awakens us to the wonder of the world around us and, if we've a mind to allow it, transforms the mundane into the miraculous. You can't help but observe your surroundings more closely and ponder existence more fiercely. And it's certainly possible that you'll choose to be the kind of person who views it all as lucky chance and insists we're alone and nothing means anything. But, there's also a possibility that you too will see signs and miracles and be infused with hope. Ms Shaw enhances the latter possibility. Her poems, in that sense, are an extraordinary gift to the reader. (Reviewed:) Grade: (A) Tweet Websites:-BIO: LUCI SHAW (1928-) (Lydia McCauley Recordings) -POEM: The Pink Hibiscus (Luci Shaw, The Crossing) -POEM: The Labors of Angels (Luci Shaw, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of the USA) -POEMS: Morning at Legoe Bay; Confession; Litchfield Woods (Luci Shaw, Communique) -POEM: Weather Forecast: Prolonged Dry Period (Luci Shaw, October 1997, First Things) -POEM: Flathead Lake, Montana (Luci Shaw, Aug/Sep 1998, First Things) -POEM: Beachcombing (Luci Shaw, Aug/Sep 1999, First Things) -POEM: Oriental for Robin, my daughter (Luci Shaw, November 1999, First Things) -POEM: The writing on the rock (Luci Shaw, 6/21/00, Christian Century) -POEM: What the wind can do (Luci Shaw, 11/03/99, Christian Century) -POEM: Country road from Sumas (Luci Shaw, August 29, 2001, Christian Century) -POEMS: Listen to the Green (Luci Shaw, Scholia) -Wheaton College Special Collections - Luci Shaw -INTERVIEW: Christianity And The Arts: Imagination Redeemed to Impact the World: A Dialogue with Luci Shaw (Interviewed by Stephanie Kirtland, 2 May 1995, Mars Hill Review) -ESSAY: Hearing the "Voice of the Infinite" In the Poetry of Luci Shaw (Suzanne U. Clark, Spring 1993, Contra Mundum) -ESSAY: Ears to Hear, Eyes to See: Luci Shaw's poetry helps us pay attention to God's world. (John G. Stackhouse Jr., 12/26/02, Christianity Today) -ARCHIVES: "luci shaw" (Find Articles) -REVIEW: ofThe Green Earth: Poems of Creation By Luci Shaw (John Tintera, Green Earth Review) -REVIEW: of Water Lines by Luci Shaw (D.S. Martin, Christianity Today) Book-related and General Links: |
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