Within the Shop of the Divine

It is impossible not to fall for Within the Shop of the Divine. These are poems abundant in flora and fauna, rich in life and matter and earthed in the spaces and histories they emerge from.

Mary Gilliland’s gift with language, and her open attention to the world affects a kind of communion – between self and space, human and more than human, and between loved ones – that moves as much as it delights.

A pamphlet of grief, recovery and quiet joy from a poet who deserves to be better known in the UK.

Mary Gilliland brings to her work the rich flavors of the natural world, yet her destination is clearly news of the inner self, its perceptions, its relationships with others. She is not afraid of delight, neither does she shirk the hard tasks of anger, pain, and deep caring.

Mary Gilliland’s tensile lyric and fluent narrative grasp the sweet otherness in life… a radiant testimony – and a triumph – of an unerring ear I deeply cherish. Mythical and grounded, her sensuously rich language enacts a poetry in which self-concentration brims beyond the far reach of desire, passion, and the self.

By turns mystical and realist, Mary Gilliland’s intensely musical poems consider global apocalypse but also celebrate the generative power of creativity. Her vision is profound, enduring.