Can someone really be saved by a poem? In Kim Rosen’s book, the
answer is a resounding “Yes!” Poetry,
the most ancient form of prayer, is a necessary medicine for our times: a
companion through difficulty; a guide when we are lost; a salve when we are wounded;
and a conduit to an inner source of joy, freedom, and insight.
Poetry is the language of the soul. From below the surface
of your life, the truth of who you are calls to you through the poems you love.
Even if you have been touched by only one poem, or just a single line heard at
a crucial moment and remembered, those words are an invitation from within. To
take them deeply into your life and speak them aloud brings every level of who
you are—your thoughts, your words, your feelings, and even your physical
energies—into alignment with what matters most to you. You are receiving and
giving voice not only to the poem but also to your own soul.
Whether you are a lover of poetry or have yet to discover its
power, Rosen offers a new way to experience a poem. She encourages you to feel
the poem as you might an affirmation or sacred text, which can align every
level of your being. In an uncertain world, Saved
by a Poem is an emphatic call to cultivate the ever-renewable resources of
the heart. Through poetry, the unspeakable can be spoken, the unendurable
endured, and the miraculous shared. Weaving
teaching, story, verse, and memoir, Rosen guides you to find a poem that speaks
to you so you can take it into your life and become a voice for its wisdom
in the world.
The book includes a CD
featuring the voices of well-known authors reading a favorite poem and
discussing its personal significance—Joan Borysenko, Andrew Harvey, Jane
Hirshfield, Marie Howe, Grace Yi-Nan Howe, Robert Holden, Stanley Kunitz,
Elizabeth Lesser, Thomas Moore, Christiane Northrup, Cheryl Richardson, Kim
Rosen, and Geneen Roth.
