GENEALOGY LESSON FOR THE LAITY
In this radiant debut collection, Cathryn Shea constructs a world as delicate, colorful, and sharp as an autumn leaf yet as stable as the ancient tree it’s fallen from. Harnessing evocative imagery that illuminates the inherent spirituality within even the frailest human gestures, these poems reach across generations, genders, and cultures to give voice to the kind of unabashed gratitude that lights up our darkest edges.
Simultaneously ethereal and grounded, mystical and rooted in simple human connections, Shea’s universe contains a “chaos of tears,” “lead-laden ponds,” and a clock’s minute hand “shaped like a thunderbolt” that somehow, almost magically, pull from these broken songs an enduring, celebratory refrain.
Celestial beings exist alongside grief-stricken daughters. Personal and cultural ancestries continue to shape the way we treat each other. Domesticity and political agendas drink from the same river. And the river is both polluted and continually replenishing itself.
Genealogy Lesson for theLaity is quietly vast and respectfully vocal. The contrasts within it are paper thin and razor sharp as a wasp’s wings, as bountiful yet self-contained as a meadow caught between mountains. These are spiritual songs of generational failures and persistent hope; the simple mysteries of loving other people; a call to witness; an appeal to ruminate; a plea for renewal; a tear; a tear that sanctifies everything it touches.
Poetry
ISBN: 978-1-950730-52-0
Publication Date: September 29, 2020
In this radiant debut collection, Cathryn Shea constructs a world as delicate, colorful, and sharp as an autumn leaf yet as stable as the ancient tree it’s fallen from. Harnessing evocative imagery that illuminates the inherent spirituality within even the frailest human gestures, these poems reach across generations, genders, and cultures to give voice to the kind of unabashed gratitude that lights up our darkest edges.
Simultaneously ethereal and grounded, mystical and rooted in simple human connections, Shea’s universe contains a “chaos of tears,” “lead-laden ponds,” and a clock’s minute hand “shaped like a thunderbolt” that somehow, almost magically, pull from these broken songs an enduring, celebratory refrain.
Celestial beings exist alongside grief-stricken daughters. Personal and cultural ancestries continue to shape the way we treat each other. Domesticity and political agendas drink from the same river. And the river is both polluted and continually replenishing itself.
Genealogy Lesson for theLaity is quietly vast and respectfully vocal. The contrasts within it are paper thin and razor sharp as a wasp’s wings, as bountiful yet self-contained as a meadow caught between mountains. These are spiritual songs of generational failures and persistent hope; the simple mysteries of loving other people; a call to witness; an appeal to ruminate; a plea for renewal; a tear; a tear that sanctifies everything it touches.
Poetry
ISBN: 978-1-950730-52-0
Publication Date: September 29, 2020
In this radiant debut collection, Cathryn Shea constructs a world as delicate, colorful, and sharp as an autumn leaf yet as stable as the ancient tree it’s fallen from. Harnessing evocative imagery that illuminates the inherent spirituality within even the frailest human gestures, these poems reach across generations, genders, and cultures to give voice to the kind of unabashed gratitude that lights up our darkest edges.
Simultaneously ethereal and grounded, mystical and rooted in simple human connections, Shea’s universe contains a “chaos of tears,” “lead-laden ponds,” and a clock’s minute hand “shaped like a thunderbolt” that somehow, almost magically, pull from these broken songs an enduring, celebratory refrain.
Celestial beings exist alongside grief-stricken daughters. Personal and cultural ancestries continue to shape the way we treat each other. Domesticity and political agendas drink from the same river. And the river is both polluted and continually replenishing itself.
Genealogy Lesson for theLaity is quietly vast and respectfully vocal. The contrasts within it are paper thin and razor sharp as a wasp’s wings, as bountiful yet self-contained as a meadow caught between mountains. These are spiritual songs of generational failures and persistent hope; the simple mysteries of loving other people; a call to witness; an appeal to ruminate; a plea for renewal; a tear; a tear that sanctifies everything it touches.
Poetry
ISBN: 978-1-950730-52-0
Publication Date: September 29, 2020
Praise for GEANOLOGY LESSON FOR THE LAITY
One of the most alluring and powerful things about poetry is that it offers the poet the opportunity to say things indirectly, using the simple selection of words to make the ordinary magical. For example, there is the attention to detail in poems like "Drano Didn't Work," which chronicles the hiring of a drainage company to service the author's home. The same care is given to poems about bad hospital food and the dread of an unpleasant diagnosis or a dying friend. This collection of poems broaches these big and small eventualities of life with the same gravity, processing them with the same levity. It illustrates how the same coping tools can tackle any problem, and how a sardonic but compassionate view will find the silver lining in any challenge.
The smallest adjustments in meter or vocabulary allow these poems to work flexibly through the eye of the reader. Each of the selections in this book can land a gut punch as heavy as a brick or flit about tragic events almost playfully. Such a duality is only possible through meticulous and precise writing. The author weaves her way through overseas atrocities, small-town Americana, and references to Scooby Doo with the same deftness. Every word is a receptacle for however much meaning the reader decides to fill it with. There still manages to be a voice and a message and meaning to these poems, giving the poet a platform to speak her mind and share her experiences. That razor's edge of difference between ambiguity and clarity breathes immense power into these poems and absolutely makes them a worthwhile read.
The US Review of Books (book review by Michael Radon)
Genealogy Lesson for the Laity offers a spiritual-based literary collection that comments on social issues, prejudice, war, and peace with an eye to exploring contrasts in experience and perspective. Shea's collection opens with personal reflective touches on life, family, and connections, as in the legacy examined in 'Family Tree': "My family tree floats out there/part of so much flotsam,/ branches sheared off in the waves./I was born twenty miles from this/grave of shipwrecks, where gulls eye/ fertile tide pools from the rocks." Philosophy joins with nature and spiritual insights as the stories progress: "Today I am observing western pond turtles,/many orders beyond the paramecium./Desire for renewal hides beneath a carapace." From people-driven choices and perspectives while volunteering to a historical review essay, 'Horses in Dust and Ash', these poems and literary works are astute, thought-provoking examinations designed to connect and reflect on history, culture, generational experiences, and social issues alike. Its contrasts between hope, love, and processes of renewal are nicely done and easy to relate to, making Genealogy Lesson for the Laity a highly recommended contrast in various approaches to life.
Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review
Cathryn Shea, in this collection of muted, eloquent poems, takes the reader on a journey through illness, loss, and grief, carefully pulling along so one can't help but feel everything precisely. The poems are rich in place and moment, beauty and story. They tremble. They weep. They pray, with answers or without. Genealogy Lesson for the Laity is a powerful first book from a writer worthy of attention. It examines what's at play when one thinks about suffering, but also about survival. This collection will stay with you long after you put it down.
Ace Boggess, author of I Have Lost the Art of Dreaming It So (Unsolicited Press), Ultra Deep Field, and The Prisoners (both from Brick Road Poetry Press)
Both thought-provoking and full of humor, Shea plays with the dialectics of hope and disappointment, irony and acceptance. In Genealogy Lesson for the Laity, history and the natural world are subtly interwoven with the intimate. Her perceptions are both finely observed and wise: in "The Postponed Grief," she says of her mother, "Hope is penciled in the margins/of her cookbook"; in "Watches," she observes how "Imagination is a peculiar clay,/infinity captured/ in the dark matter we don't understand." A delightful read.
Jeanne Wagner, author of Everything Turns Into Something Else, runner-up of the 2019 Grayson Books prize
In Genealogy Lesson for the Laity, the poet explores the essential elements of history, family, motherhood, ancestry, and all the layers in between. The poems in this collection are a delight and remind of us what is vital for a fulfilling life. The work in this book discovers the beauties of the falls of Idaho, the sacred history of trees, bookmarks for maps of the world, and all the epiphanies in between. The poet's images and language traverse through the journey of the body and tells us how to stay whole in the midst of waiting rooms and bone density scans. When "every pot hole is a wound" this collection shows us that "grace is a funny color that streaks through the curtains."
Connie Post, author of Floodwater, winner of the Lyrebird Award, and Prime Meridian (Glass Lyre Press)
Shea's writing in Genealogy Lesson for the Laity is both calm and meditative, but also constantly moving, propelling a reader "lost in a world of words." Lines here are rich and luxurious, yet surprisingly spare, as we explore the body in the context of heredity, personal history, nature, and the social world. A body that is both fragile and framed by steel. Each section moves us outward, but also spirals in to a very still center that unravels us then rebuilds us anew.
Kristy Bowen, author of sex & violence (Black Lawrence Press), and founding editor of dancing girl press
About CATHRYN SHEA
Cathryn Shea is the author of the full-length poetry book “Genealogy Lesson for the Laity” (Unsolicited Press, September 2020) and the poetry chapbooks “Backpack Full of Leaves” (Cyberwit, 2019), “Secrets Hidden in a Pear Tree” (dancing girl press, 2019), and “It’s Raining Lullabies” (dancing girl press, 2017). Cathryn’s poetry has been nominated for Best of the Net and her poetry has appeared in anthologies and in many journals including Poet Lore, New Orleans Review, Tar River Poetry, Gargoyle, Tinderbox, and elsewhere. She was a merit finalist for the Atlanta Review 2013 International Poetry Competition. In 2004 she received the Marjorie J. Wilson Award for Poetry from MARGIE. Cathryn served as editor for Marin Poetry Center Anthology and she lives with her husband in Fairfax, CA. See www.cathrynshea.com and @cathy_shea on Twitter.
