The Daring of Paradise

The Daring of Paradise reconfigures stories and images from both multiple religions and from fairy tales, cracking them open to release new light. Poems probe the intense devotion in the letters of Paul and the sensuality shimmering within the traditions of Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. They cast lines across religious divides, gather elements of incarnate spirituality, and consider how, in our present moment, religion might speak to the body of the Earth. Both contemplative and provocative, The Daring of Paradise reveals a world shot through with desire and expands the ambit of devotional poetry, listening to "that polished emptiness pressing upon speech" and the "illicit locutions sung and fluted / through the back alleys of heaven."