Laurie Klein*

Laurie Klein is a poet of the Pacific Northwest, the author of Where the Sky Opens (2015) and of the brand new book, House of 49 Doors ― both from The Poiema Poetry Series.

Her name comes up frequently as the writer of the praise chorus “I Love You, Lord” which has been ubiquitous in church circles for years. Its familiarity led guitarist Phil Keaggy to record it as the only cover-tune on his beautiful instrumental album The Wind and the Wheat (1987, Maranatha Music).

When she was featured at Abbey of the Arts, Laurie Klein said, “For me, entering the presence of the sacred means embracing mystery. And I adore mystery. Poems I love evoke — and expose — irresistible gaps: within my understanding, between the lines themselves, betwixt soul and Truth’s unerring glance.”

As Klein’s editor, for both of her full-length collections, I am delighted to see the arrival of this ambitious new book. It is a memoir of the unspeakable, that takes on a family’s disturbing sorrow with remarkable innocence, beauty, and hope.

Jill Peláez Baumgaertner, of The Christian Century, says of House of 49 Doors, “The voice in these remarkable poems belongs to a girl, a spy, a recorder of daydreams and memories of a home and a war-torn, beloved uncle, whose grisly suicide was a family secret. These poems are handprints left in cement. Once you pick up this book, you will be unable to put it down.”

The following poem is from House of 49 Doors.

Words which are not

enough — despite our regrets
and longings — mound,
musty and swept together
like fallen leaves, crackling
with sorrow nearly

unspeakable. Where is solace
meant to settle cleanly as dew?
A life shatters, its hunger
for wholeness hopefully
drifting toward Mystery,

luring us all nearer
the pure, original spark —
a vitality deeper than

we dare believe. Prayers may
falter, but know this:

though language flails
and has too often failed us,
our questions spiral,
eventually intersect
the beguiling Love

that summoned this universe,
which, from our first
shuddering breath,
clear through forever, rekindles
the sacred flint, blazons our way.

Posted with permission of the poet.

*This is the second Kingdom Poets post about Laurie Klein: first post.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the author of five poetry collections including Angelicus (2021, Cascade) ― a book of poems written from the point-of-view of angels. His books are available through Wipf & Stock.

Susan Cowger

Susan Cowger is a poet living in Washington State, and one of the poets featured in the recent anthology In A Strange Land: Introducing Ten Kingdom Poets (2019, Poiema Poetry Series). She has been contributing to poetry for years ― releasing her chapbook Scarab Hiding in 2006. She is a founder and former editor of Rock & Sling. which is now a publication of Whitworth University.

I first met Susan, and her friend the poet Laurie Klein, at the Festival of Faith & Writing in Michigan, back when they were the face of Rock & Sling. This post celebrates the release of Susan Cowger’s debut poetry collection Slender Warble (2020, Poiema/Cascade). I am pleased to have been able to work with Susan Cowger to edit this collection.

The following poem is from Slender Warble.

A Cry Too Soft to Hear

O Lord if forever is now
contained in this skin I wonder

what will happen to the place I scraped raw
ragged furrows scabbing over the pain

the flesh injured beyond bruise
a cataclysm designed to draw you

into being
something like protector

savior of a wound I created
as if I could believe you would come and love

what I hate

Posted with permission of the poet.

This is the first Kingdom Poets post about Susan Cowger: second post.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. His latest poetry collection is Ampersand (2018, Cascade). His books are available through Amazon, and Wipf & Stock, including the anthologies The Turning Aside, and Adam, Eve, & the Riders of the Apocalypse.

Laurie Klein

Laurie Klein is active in many aspects of the arts including as a poet, songwriter and visual artist. She has taught theatre arts at Whitworth University in Spokane, and is one of the founding editors of the journal Rock & Sling, which now makes its home at that university. She won the Predator Press Chapbook Prize for Bodies of Water, Bodies of Flesh (2004), and the 2007 Thomas Merton Prize for Poetry of the Sacred. Her first full-length poetry collection Where the Sky Opens has recently appeared as part of the Poiema Poetry Series from Cascade Books. As her editor I am thankful for the chance to work with Laurie in making this fine book available.

Her poem "Lauds in a Pocket" appeared at my blog The 55 Project in May of 2014, and is included in her new book. The following poem is also from Where the Sky Opens.

Jonah’s Whale Addresses the Almighty

Ruler of oceans, who can fathom
your summons? Pity my moans,
this small throat aching for everyday air.
Doubts are lice. They eat into brain and heart.
With a word, I’m consigned to an unknown shore.
Oh, maker of magnificent tails, reconsider
stranding me, far from the circle of my kind!
By your gift, salt is my song; your call
unleashes this sonar lament.

Never mind. You command my breath, as ever,
so let the columns of bubbles
rise, like prayers, our net
to enfold a wayward son. I’ll do as I’m told, only
ease the lung-numbing gulp, the intestinal hell.
Then, may whatever end you design
close its mouth over me.
Not to leap, not to swim—but this I ask—
let me sink into you, before beaching.

Posted with permission of the poet.

This is the first Kingdom Poets post about Laurie Klein: second post.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. His latest poetry collection, Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis, is available from Wipf & Stock as is his earlier award-winning collection, Poiema.