Echo & Lightning

Echo & Lightning, by Duluth Poet Laureate Sheila Packa, uses the metaphor of bird migration and myth to examine ways we relinquish the self. The poems examine the physical ecstatic and devastating experience of Leda, Eurydice, Mary Magdelene, Mary mother of Jesus, Lot's Wife, and the narrator of the Gnostic text, Thunder Perfect Mind. Elements of wind, water, and the flight of geese, swans, gardens and wilderness predominate. The three sections of the book represent spiritual ascension, loss of self, and wandering. There are several love poems. The cover image is a painting by Cecilia Rmone.