Stars Shall Bend Their Voices

A stable lamp is lighted
whose glow shall wake the sky;
the stars shall bend their voices,
and every stone shall cry.
-Richard Wilbur

Twenty-five leading contemporary poets were invited to choose and write about their favorite hymn or spiritual song. Their essays have been collected in an anthology and published by Orison Books.

Publisher’s description
In Stars Shall Bend Their Voices, some of the most respected living poets meditate on the role of hymns and spiritual songs in their lives and writing. Representing many spiritual traditions and many approaches to personal spiritual practice, Stars Shall Bend Their Voices is a testament to the lasting impact of spiritual music on many of today’s best poets.

Order your copy from Orison Books or from your bookstore.

Essays commissioned for Stars Shall Bend Their Voices were pre-published in Commonweal, First Things, Image, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Literary Hub, Tiferet and other journals.

In the posts that follow, photographs of the poets are linked to sites that tell you more about their lives and work. Buy a volume of your favorite poet’s poems, essays or literary criticism.

All Creatures of our God and King Kimberly Johnson
Amazing Grace Alicia Ostriker
A Mighty Fortress Maurice Manning
Be Thou My Vision Scott Cairns
Breathe on Me Breath of God Margaret Gibson
Caedmon’s Hymn Edward Hirsch
Come My Beloved Yehoshua November
The Eid Takbeerat Zeina Hashem Beck
Great is Thy Faithfulness Kwame Dawes
Hallel Jacqueline Osherow
I Love to Tell the Story Kathleen Norris
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise Lorna Goodison
Islamic Call to Prayer Kaveh Akbar
Jesus is All the World to Me Patricia Jabbeh Wesley
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel Linda Gregerson
O God Our Help in Ages Past Vijay Seshadri
O Little Town of Bethlehem Robert Hass
One Bread, One Body Kate Daniels
Onward Christian Soldiers Jay Hopler
Psalm 23 Richard Chess
Precious Lord, Take My Hand Sydney Lea
A Rastafarian Hymn Shara McCallum
Silent Night Jason Gray
Tantum Ergo Dana Gioia
There is a Green Hill Far Away Mark Jarman

Cover art: Cluster I by Ekaterina Smirnova

Contributors

Jacqueline Osherow

Scott Cairns

Patricia Jabbeh Wesley

Margaret Gibson

Lorna Goodison

Edward Hirsch

Maurice Manning

Mark Jarman

Kimberly Johnson

Yehoshua November

Jason Gray

Robert Hass

Kwame Dawes

Zeina Hashem Beck

Vijay Seshadri

Kate Daniels

Linda Gregerson

Kaveh Akbar

Alicia Ostriker

Richard Chess

Sydney Lea

Shara McCallum

Kathleen Norris

Jay Hopler

Dana Gioia

Praise

Editor Johnson invited an array of poets and essayists to write of their choice hymns. He said of the poets, “They became like a temporary congregation to me.” Among essayists, Kwame Dawes writes a magnificent piece (the song chosen is “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”). Dawes states this is as not only a grounding principle of faith for him, but one shared equally with his wife, Lorna — it is “their hymn.” It’s a privilege to read the various hymns that are life-changing, and because poets feel as they write, it makes tender reading. The hymns’ lyrics are produced in their entirety which gives us the key to each essayist’s experience, and makes the book a dialogue between the speaker and his/her hymn.
-Grace Cavalieri
Washington Independent Review of Books

“I like to sing,’ begins Alicia Ostriker in her essay that joins so many necessary voices of contemporary poetry. Each piece collected in this book allows for memoir, prayer, and rebellion in its examination of what hymns have and can mean to the culture, to the heart. In these pages, the writers you’d think of as most interested in skepticism lay bare their politics and their personal history in order to better know their relationship to faith.”
—Jericho Brown, author of The New Testament

“From Zeina Hashem Beck’s memories of hearing prayers from Tripoli’s mosques to Linda Gregerson’s most beloved Christmas hymn, these essays reveal contemporary poets’ connections to spiritual songs: the lyric impulse, the importance of breath, the pull of anaphora and rhyme. Stars Shall Bend Their Voices is an illuminating—and luminous—collection.”
—Maggie Smith, author of Good Bones

Poets craft words to affect us; hymns sing words into our bodies. How wonderful, then, to read skilled poets speaking personally about hymns and spiritual songs they know. I love this wonderful compendium of poets who have taken hymns to heart—insightful, moving, and revelatory. -Donald Saliers, author of Music and Theology.

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