Faith (Wesleyan New Poets)

Lynne McMahon resists the compromises that come with domestication of heavenly space. Seeking to restore a lost sense of wonder, she creates out of mundane rituals - those concerning marriage and motherhood, in particular - a new affirmation that might be called faith. Things taken for granted are transformed by reflection and observation. Morning is "ordinary and amazing"; a garden shows "tiny knuckles of upturning life." "And at the end there will be someplace like this, white pillars on a gray porch, ferns and sweet William carpeting the shade."