ANTHOLOGIES
Susan has edited three anthologies: A Matter of Spirit; Poetry and Spiritual Practice; and An Avian Alphabet
A Matter of Spirit: Recovery of the Sacred in Contemporary Canadian Poetry
Ekstasis Editions, 1998
ISBN 1-896860-24-9
A Matter of Spirit reaffirms the suggestion that soul-making is the true vocation of the poet. Poetry is personal speech on universal experience, and in this selection of poems, the individual approach to the sacred is emphasized over any adherence to orthodoxy or doctrine. In this anthology, spiritual traditions of East and West are filtered through the personal vision of sixteen contemporary Canadian poets. These poets are joined together not by faith and similar belief, but by each following their own path to truth.
Their poems and stories, and editor Susan McCaslin’s insightful introduction, illuminate fundamental themes of spiritual life that resonate in each of us. Editor McCaslin provides an absorbing introduction, which probes that which is called the sacred, an ocean that receives many rivers. It may surprise the reader who believes the spiritual life is separate from the secular.
Poets and artists tend to be skeptical in matters of religion, yet the creative process necessitates a look inward, a discovery of the soul….This anthology…is an exploration of poetry as a commitment to individual experience of the divine. It is not a survey of religious or spiritual poetry in Canada, but…an encounter with the inner self….The poems here speak in voices of prayer, confession, meditation, contemplation, lament, praise, adoration, lyric exuberance, aphorism, ecstatic utterance.
This substantial collection of sixteen voices makes available and apparent the full range and amplitude of a notable sub-current or subterranean stream of Canadian poetry, as poets continue to acknowledge the sacred in everyday life. A Matter of Spirit is certain to become an important and influential text that will be consulted for many years to come; one that is indispensable for students and readers of world poetry.
Praise for A Matter of Spirit:
“I am grateful for the evidence of the Spirit at work and at play, blowing through the leaves of this book.” (Joy Kogawa)
“…a rich and remarkable resource, astutely selected, arranged and introduced. A pioneering effort to explore the meeting place of poetic and spiritual impulses….” (David A. Kent, The St. Thomas Poetry Series)
“…a delight to read a book that focuses on poets exploring the ultimate things in life….” (Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun)
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
A Matter of Spirit: Recovery of the Sacred in Contemporary Canadian Poetry
Ekstasis Editions, 1998
ISBN 1-896860-24-9
A Matter of Spirit reaffirms the suggestion that soul-making is the true vocation of the poet. Poetry is personal speech on universal experience, and in this selection of poems, the individual approach to the sacred is emphasized over any adherence to orthodoxy or doctrine. In this anthology, spiritual traditions of East and West are filtered through the personal vision of sixteen contemporary Canadian poets. These poets are joined together not by faith and similar belief, but by each following their own path to truth.
Their poems and stories, and editor Susan McCaslin’s insightful introduction, illuminate fundamental themes of spiritual life that resonate in each of us. Editor McCaslin provides an absorbing introduction, which probes that which is called the sacred, an ocean that receives many rivers. It may surprise the reader who believes the spiritual life is separate from the secular.
Poets and artists tend to be skeptical in matters of religion, yet the creative process necessitates a look inward, a discovery of the soul….This anthology…is an exploration of poetry as a commitment to individual experience of the divine. It is not a survey of religious or spiritual poetry in Canada, but…an encounter with the inner self….The poems here speak in voices of prayer, confession, meditation, contemplation, lament, praise, adoration, lyric exuberance, aphorism, ecstatic utterance.
This substantial collection of sixteen voices makes available and apparent the full range and amplitude of a notable sub-current or subterranean stream of Canadian poetry, as poets continue to acknowledge the sacred in everyday life. A Matter of Spirit is certain to become an important and influential text that will be consulted for many years to come; one that is indispensable for students and readers of world poetry.
Praise for A Matter of Spirit:
“I am grateful for the evidence of the Spirit at work and at play, blowing through the leaves of this book.” (Joy Kogawa)
“…a rich and remarkable resource, astutely selected, arranged and introduced. A pioneering effort to explore the meeting place of poetic and spiritual impulses….” (David A. Kent, The St. Thomas Poetry Series)
“…a delight to read a book that focuses on poets exploring the ultimate things in life….” (Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun)
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Poetry and Spiritual Practice: Selections from Contemporary Canadian Poets
The St. Thomas Poetry Series, 2002
ISBN 0-9685339-7-3
Poetry and Spiritual Practice is an anthology of poems accompanied by short essays by fifteen Canadian poets working within spiritual or religious traditions.
Poets include: Hannah Main-van der Kamp, Alice Major, Lee Johnson, Sister Eileen Curteis, John Terpstra, Susan McCaslin, Joy Kogawa, David Waltner-Toews, Margo Swiss, Richard Greene, Marianne Bluger, George Whipple, Catherine Owen, John Livingstone Clark, and Beryl Baigent.
Each poet was asked to address the following question: How does a particular spiritual practice in your life interface with the writing of poetry? Poets reflected on such practices as centring prayer, lectio divina, meditation, contemplation of nature, reiki, remembrance, prayer, song, mystical communion, mantra meditation, dream-work, Celtic heritage, and others.
The St. Thomas Poetry Series, 2002
ISBN 0-9685339-7-3
Poetry and Spiritual Practice is an anthology of poems accompanied by short essays by fifteen Canadian poets working within spiritual or religious traditions.
Poets include: Hannah Main-van der Kamp, Alice Major, Lee Johnson, Sister Eileen Curteis, John Terpstra, Susan McCaslin, Joy Kogawa, David Waltner-Toews, Margo Swiss, Richard Greene, Marianne Bluger, George Whipple, Catherine Owen, John Livingstone Clark, and Beryl Baigent.
Each poet was asked to address the following question: How does a particular spiritual practice in your life interface with the writing of poetry? Poets reflected on such practices as centring prayer, lectio divina, meditation, contemplation of nature, reiki, remembrance, prayer, song, mystical communion, mantra meditation, dream-work, Celtic heritage, and others.
An Avian Alphabet: a Flock of Poems on Birds by 15 Canadian Poets
Barbarian Press, 2023
Poems selected and edited by Susan McCaslin, with 30 beautiful woodcuts by Langley artist Edith Krause.
The book provides a diverting anthology of poems about birds by sixteen contemporary Canadian poets, some of them well established figures, such as Lorna Crozier, Susan McCaslin, Harold Rhenish, and Bill Richardson, and others younger emerging poets. The result is a rich cross-section ranging from the lyrical to the satirical, the humorous to the elegiac. Edith Krause provides an introduction to the project itself; ornithologist Rob Butler, a thoughtful ecological preface; and wildlife biologist Phil Henderson, a short reflection on the relationship between the poems and the birds in the book.
Barbarian Press, 2023
Poems selected and edited by Susan McCaslin, with 30 beautiful woodcuts by Langley artist Edith Krause.
The book provides a diverting anthology of poems about birds by sixteen contemporary Canadian poets, some of them well established figures, such as Lorna Crozier, Susan McCaslin, Harold Rhenish, and Bill Richardson, and others younger emerging poets. The result is a rich cross-section ranging from the lyrical to the satirical, the humorous to the elegiac. Edith Krause provides an introduction to the project itself; ornithologist Rob Butler, a thoughtful ecological preface; and wildlife biologist Phil Henderson, a short reflection on the relationship between the poems and the birds in the book.
