Product Description

"[When we read and write poetry,] it is as if a long-settled cloud in our mind suddenly dissipates, and we are divine once again."-- from the Introduction

Poetry is the language of devotion in prayer, chant, and song. Reading and writing poetry creates clarity, deepens and expands spiritual inquiry, and cultivates wisdom, compassion, self-confidence, patience, and love. In author Robert McDowell's words, poetry makes you into a tuning fork of the Divine.

But poetry has disappeared over the centuries from religious ceremonies, academic curricula, and public discourse. In Poetry as Spiritual Practice, the first inspirational and instructional guide to combine poetry and spirituality, McDowell restores poetry as the natural language of spiritual practice and invites you to recognize poetry as "the pure sound and shape of your spirit."

Vividly illustrated with a wide range of poems from all historical eras and poetic traditions, numerous religions and faiths, and McDowell's own and his students' work, Poetry as Spiritual Practice will reintroduce you to the unique pleasure of verse. And meditations throughout will allow you to integrate reading and writing poetry into your spiritual journeys and daily life.

Since many of us have long forgotten, or never learned, the mechanics and terminology of poetry -- trochaic feet and tropes trip us up; we can't tell a villanelle from its shorter cousin, rondeau; and a terza rima may as well be a tanka -- this is also an instructional handbook on reading and writing poetry. An engaging guide through the landscape of world poetry, McDowell argues along the way for the many practical benefits of poetic literacy.

Making poetry an essential part of daily rituals, aspirations, and intentions will put you on the path to greater meaning, growth, and peace in your life. At once an engaging technical primer, a profound meditation on the relationship between poetry and the Divine, and an inspirational guide for integrating poetry into spiritual practice, Poetry as Spiritual Practice will become a cherished companion.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #779929 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-15
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

From Booklist
Far too many people today are still intimidated by poetry. They consider poetry elitist, difficult, a secret language impossible to crack. Poet, teacher, and mentor McDowell couldn’t disagree more. He firmly believes that anyone can write poetry. All you need is an openness to poetry and some understanding of its mechanics. Indeed, McDowell argues that poetry is, or at least can be, the most democratic literary form. His inspiring and quite lovely book explores the sound and language of poetry, examines its building blocks, discusses its various genres (nursery rhymes, hymns, elegy, free verse, narratives, haikus, sonnets, limericks, prose poems, and free verse), and includes writing exercises and meditations. He discusses, too, the significance of metaphors and similes, alliteration and assonance, and rhyme and meter. The work of great poets (from John Keats and Emily Dickinson to Lewis Carroll and Lord Byron) is cited, and so is the work of poets most of us probably have never heard of, not to mention examples of his own and his students’ poetry. --June Sawyers

Review
"[McDowell firmly believes that anyone can write poetry....an] inspiring and quite lovely book." -- Booklist

Review
"Reading this lovely guide awakens in you a deeper appreciation for poetry and messages of the Spirit. It communicates a poet's soul -- and helps you articulate that deep place of truth for yourself." -- Caroline Myss, author of Entering the Castle and Anatomy of the Spirit

"In the way that Rumi allowed us to touch the heart of our soul, Robert McDowell -- with a lyrical grace -- shows you how to easily create poetry that can propel your spiritual journey beyond normal reality into cherished mystic realms." -- Denise Linn, author of Sacred Space and The Secret Language of Signs

"At the same time that Robert McDowell is teaching us to approach the reading and writing of poems as acts of prayer in his brilliantly insightful book, Poetry as Spiritual Practice, he is quietly doing another astonishing thing: creating community. McDowell's exercises at the end of each chapter liberate poetry from a solitary contemplative practice to a collective celebration of the sacred. I will share this book with everyone I love." -- Mirabai Starr, author of new translations of Dark Night of the Soul by John of the Cross and The Interior Castle and The Book of My Life by Teresa of Ávila

"Poetry exposes me to a different way of experiencing the world. When I read Poetry as Spiritual Practice I instantly translated the poems into pictures. I can see fields of grain or rain in Autumn. It is fascinating to see all the patterns and rhymes that can be woven into language. I always enjoy learning about the different ways that other people think of and experience the world."-- Temple Grandin, author of Thinking in Pictures

"[McDowell firmly believes that anyone can write poetry....an] inspiring and quite lovely book." -- Booklist

Customer Reviews

Poetry Writing for Everyone!
For those of us without academic training in the writing or understand of poetry, poets and their writing process seem unique and incomprehensible. And yet, we all long to put into words, to set down on paper, the moments of pure grace and serenity that we experience in our spiritual process, whether that process is rigorous or casual, structured or independently woven. Poetry as Spiritual Practice removes the mystique from the writing process and offers it to us in a development of method that is not only successful, but fun! McDowell leads us through the building blocks of traditional poetic forms in such a way as to make writing these forms effective. Applying the practice of writing poetry to our spiritual process is icing on the cake. If you've ever longed to write poetry but were intimidated by the mystery of the forms, or even wondered just how to get started, this little book is a course in exactly that. With a friend, with your book group, or on your own...pick up Poetry as Spiritual Practice and experience the joy of the poem, your poem. McDowell's manner is unpretentious, the poetry is accessible, the poetic forms demystified with simple clarity. You feel as if you are sitting with him over coffee playing around with words, and every so often you will sing out with joy as you hit upon your muse.

Poetry as prayer
Reading "poetry as Spiritual Practice" was like quenching a deep thirst I didn't know I had. Robert McDowell explains with simple clarity how important prayer is to our lives, and how to create our own prayers -- as poetry. He explores the great poems of literature not as museum pieces, but as the brilliant soulful voices of our fellow human beings. He invites us to share their company, and to open our hearts as they have. There are lots of poems in the book, lots of technical explanations and lots of exercises. But McDowell seems to have that rare gift of being quite detailed and yet simple at the same time. A warm and welcoming book from a great teacher.

The Language of Love
This is the book I've been waiting for! It offers clear, inspiring instruction on writing classical forms of poetry, forms that provide a welcome wardrobe in which I can dress my wild muse and display her secret beauty at last. And it makes the connection my friends and I have been trying to make for years: all poetry is sacred poetry. The written word, carefully crafted and lovingly shared, has the potential to transform consciousness and lift us to the realms of the sacred, which, as it turnds out, dwells within the ordinary. Robert McDowell reminds me that poetry is the language of love, love for the divine, love for one another, love for our truest selves.