CANTICLE OF LIGHT AND DARK by Paula Sayword

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For the speaker of these beautiful, sensitive poems, life is a road, a spiritual path, a route to find “what matters.” And in an uncertain world where God may be distant or absent, where the “blue animal” of the earth is endangered, what can provide a refuge, a home? For Paula Sayword, “grief (especially for the loss of a loved granddaughter to a heroin addiction) is a hungry thief,” and all we can do is search for “the slightest quiver of healing.” I love these poems because they speak to my spirit.

--Patricia Fargnoli, author of Winter, Then Something, and Necessary Light.

Canticle of Light and Dark has sting and grace, cloak and bard skin; each poem chimes with passion and clarity. This is a willing voice. From the tender to unbearable loss, these poems shine into the dark of northeast woods, the mesas of the west and the rigors of human experience. The language is discovery, consequence and devotion. Sayword has the determination to notice and the discipline to stay looking. Here is a quiet bravery.

--Anne Love Woodhull, author of Night with Its Owl

Canticle of Light and Dark goes deep, revealing this poet’s love for the truth and her need to tell it. Brave, raw, intimate and moving, Sayword’s Canticle of Light and Dark offers truth at every turn. Rich in feeling, profound in insight, these are poems you will remember long after closing the book.

--Terry Martin, author of The Light You Find and The Secret Language of Women

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Paula Sayword’s full length book of poetry, Canticle of Light and Darkwas recently published by The Synthesis Center Press.  A chapbook, What Sleeps Inside,was published by Slate Roof Press in the summer of 2010.  Her poetry has appeared in Sanctuary: The Journal of Massachusetts Audubon Society, the Naugatuck River Review, Cyclamen & Swords, Sinister Wisdom, The Zuni Mountain Poets, and Adrienne Rich: A Tribute Anthology. She lives in Leyden with her longtime woman partner and spends time each year in Ramah, New Mexico.