cover image All the Beauty Still Left: A Poet’s Painted Book of Hours

All the Beauty Still Left: A Poet’s Painted Book of Hours

Spencer Reece. Turtle Point, $17.95 (128p) ISBN 978-1-885983-96-1

Inspired by medieval devotional guides, Reece (The Road to Emmaus), an Episcopal priest and winner of the Pushcart Prize for poetry, creates a marvelous, contemporary Book of Hours. Reece’s approach is to combine quotes that have resonated with him with illustrations of places and things that have inspired him—a bird, dog, desk, bed, or window view. For example, a colorful interior of the Our Little Roses orphanage in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, is paired with Henri Cole’s line: “If tenderness approaches, run to it.” For compline prayers at the end of each day, Welsh poet George Herbert’s words “prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night” appear opposite a self-portrait of Reece. The quotes—rarely longer than several lines—are an eclectic mix, including snippets from Marilyn Monroe, Fernando Pessoa, Yo-Yo Ma, Albert Einstein, and James Baldwin, while places depicted include the Acropolis in Athens, apartment buildings in Barcelona, the Los Angeles skyline, New York City’s Trinity Church, and many still lifes of Old Lyme, Conn. With exquisite simplicity, these glowing pages will invite readers to their own contemplations throughout the day. (May)