Praying The Psalms

Following the format of earlier titles such as Prayers from the Mount ( LJ 9/1/86), these free-verse reflections explore 25 well-known psalms. Shepherd struggles occassionally with moralistic or vindictive passages but ultimately resolves such difficulties by facing sinful feelings in his own heartthereby affirming the psalms’ humanity if not, in all cases, their divine inspiration. While the discursive tone is sometimes at odds with the poetic form, this still makes provocative reading for the intellectually inclined.