Drawing from the poetry of generations of esteemed writers Gary Bouchard shows how poems often express the longings of the human heart as a kind of prayer. Emily Dickinson, Rev. Rowan Williams, Pope John Paul II, Christina Rossetti, Robert Frost, and Fr. Kilian McDonnell, OSB, among others, offer readers an inspiring path to reflect upon and pray with poetic verse. Arranged under six engaging themes, each selection uses the words of poets as vehicles to prompt “heaven in ordinary” or to praise like “exalted manna”; to find the right “paraphrase” for your own soul or maybe sense your “soul’s blood”; to muster up from your grief or anger “reversed thunder” or dare to articulate from your own personal anguish “Christ-side-piercing spear.”

"A resource for reflection and prayer using poetry from several writers"--

This extraordinary celebration of the poet's craft opens the attentive reader's heart to the world of the spirit. Author/compilers Judith Valente and Charles Reynard, noted poets themselves, share elected poems that probe the classic themes of the spiritual life.

What does prayer look like in contemporary America? With a welcoming tone and plainspoken diction, the forty poems in Hansen’s collection explore that question. Including elements of autobiography, Your Twenty-First Century Prayer Life investigates Christianity in the present, depicting a faith in God that is continuously in flux. Readers journey through the seasons of the church year as Hansen recounts doubts, conversions, frustrations, and confessions. Ultimately, these poems are concerned as much with words as they are with the Word.

A collection of more than twenty selections from around the world includes poems and prayers for children.

'Good morning, Lord.' A simple beginning to the day with amazing results. What more does God ask of us than to be in relationship with him? Prayer is the foundation of that relationship. JUST PRAY! A Book of Poetic Prayers and Prayerful Poems, grew out of intentional time set aside for God each day. The unique style is an eclectic mixture of rhyming and free verse, sometimes both within the same poem. JUST PRAY! reveals the deep faith and personal relationship the reader will sense between the author and her Lord. It becomes a profound witness to the possibility of the same relationship happening for the reader.