FOOD FOR THE SOUL: Selections from the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen Writers Workshop

This collection of essays, poems and stories from 25 talented participants in a soup kitchen writers' workshop lives up to its title. The selections are funny, gritty and brutally honest—writing that attests to a raw spirituality formed and informed by life on the street. When these writers are given prompts like "It Was the Best Day," "So I Lied," "September Eleven," "My Best Mistake" or "In My Other Life," they hold nothing back. Peter Nkruma writes about the "delicious fun" he had at the library writing on his Web log a parody of the evangelical Left Behind series of apocalyptic fiction, playing God and "rapturing" to the heavens a boozy magazine editor he liked while leaving behind one who ignored articles by African-Americans. Donald Mackey's moving essay on "Working for My Welfare" describes scrounging for a dirty pair of gloves at a cleaning job he needed to keep his food stamps. In his piece on "Recovering," Mackey reflects on how the writers' workshop has changed his life—he is now a licensed minister completing a book and a one-act play. Sometimes sweet and sometimes bitter, this collection is a nutritious "slice of life" from a writers' workshop that's truly in the soul-food business. (Oct.)