The Book of Awe by Susan O’Dell Underwood

Susan Underwood pays attention to the world, especially the natural world, so closely that it inspires awe in her. Not only that, it also inspires righteous indignation at the environmental devastation that we experience everyday if we observe carefully. Beyond all that, it inspires her to write poems that are accessible in a way that leads us into greater depth and whose lyricism arouses our most penetrating contemplation. “Susan O'Dell Underwood is uniquely aware as a thinker and writer, and that awareness results in startling, vital poetry. . . . Every poem in this collection will shake the reader to wakefulness.--C. Ann Kodra. “The Book of Awe is the book that we need right now. Like the ‘gorgeous faith of roots against the sand's erosion,’ Underwood celebrates God's immanence in the world despite natural disaster and human error. While Underwood's topics--hubris, spite, gratitude, love--are ambitious, she centers her poems in the tangible miracles of canyons, fields, and lightning