Table of Contents
Foreword Philip Zaleski ix
Introduction Billy Collins xv
Starting Out from Ted Hughes's Letters from The Georgia Review Coleman Barks 1
The Return from Orion Rick Bass 5
Words of Nectar and Cyanide from First Things Joseph Bottum 10
Words Are Not Enough from Portland Alice Lok Cahana 23
A Mindful Beauty from The American Scholar Joel E. Cohen 30
Grave from The Atlantic Billy Collins 43
Czeslaw Milosz's Glasses from The Southern Review Robert Cording 45
Turning Points from The Christian Century Paul J. Griffiths 49
Sesshin with Sasaki Roshi from Shambhala Sun Michael Haederle 59
Barley and Yaks from Orion Edward Hoagland 70
Taking the Veil from Portland Nancy Honicker 85
Buddha's Savage Peace from The Atlantic Robert D. Kaplan 89
Let My People Go to the Buffet from Commentary Jesse Kellerman 100
Who Am I, Lord, That You Should Know My Name? from Portland Bruce Lawrie 113
1934 from The New Yorker Philip, Levine 116
An Intimate Geography from The American Scholar Barry Lopez 119
Sisters & Daughters from First Things Robert Miola 130
We and You-Let Us Meet in God's Love from Sophia Seyyed Hossein Nasr 137
The Contemplative Life from Image Marilyn Nelson 152
Pigs (see Swine) from The Hudson Review Melissa Range 155
Bleecker Street from The New Yorker Philip Schultz 157
Scordatura: Upon Listening to Biber's Rosary Sonatas from Image Anita Sullivan 159
Believing in Flannery O'Connor from Commentary Terry Teachout 166
Trismegistus from The New Yorker Richard Wilbur 175
Christianity Face to Face with Islam from First Things Robert Louis Wilken 177
Ian's Angels from Image Nancy Willard 197
The Foundation from The New Yorker C. K. Williams 199
My Bright Abyss from The American Scholar Christian Wiman 201
The Shul at Loon Lake from Commentary Ruth R. Wisse 210
What Art Can and Can't Do from First Things Philip Yancey 221
Contributors' Notes 235
Other Notable Spiritual Writing of the Year 240