In the Shelter

this man has such a way with words. i swear he breathes poetry

it's a pleasure to read him. and an even greater one to listen to him. i might leave a link to a speech of his at St Paul's Cathedral in London on this very book. the speech that actually convinced me to buy the book

In the Shelter is, in the author's own words,

"a long essay in the art of trying to greet your life without fear, or even with fear, and to greet your fear with which you greet your life. to find a way to say: here is what's happening [...] an essay in the art and spirituality of language and its power to save or to destroy, to create or desecrate."

it is a book about finding one's place and telling the truth about it; whether or not it's a place one wishes to be in, because this is the first step to changing it, would one wish to do it. to name and greet the place one finds one's self at

"hello to here."

and hello to my silly attempts. hello to my obsessions. hello to the little things that make me smile. hello to wanting something different.

hello to all the new places.

for me, it's one of those books that, when finished, the first thought i have is 'i don't know what just happened but i know something great did. and i need to re-read it as soon as possible'

i am still new to poetry. this year i decided to read more of it and the few poems at the end of each chapter were a great start. i even have a few favourites and i'll definitely check out more of Pádraig's poetry