Books
The Alchemy of Grace
Devotional Sonnets after Vittoria Colonna
by Ravenna Cole
The devotional poems in The Alchemy of Grace don’t preach or tell you how to live—instead they offer humble words that can be spoken with the poet, prayers that acknowledge the struggles of the journey of faith even as they celebrate the glory of the Christian promise. There are poems imploring help, asking forgiveness, admitting weakness and failure, and honestly facing the desire to give up, to stop trying, and to take the easy road. But shining through it all is the sun, the moon, the saints, and the sea, which each in their own way speak the majesty of God and the transformative power of life in Christ.
The book is inspired by the ground-breaking devotional poetry of Vittoria Colonna, the Renaissance poet who grew famous writing secular love sonnets before turning her back on worldly expectations and transforming the sonnet form into a vessel for devotional searching. These poems reimagine each of her 103 Sonnets for Michelangelo in fresh, contemporary language perfect for daily devotional reading, for prayer, for contemplation, and to turn to when you're struggling.
The Alchemy of Grace
Devotional Sonnets after Vittoria Colonna
by Ravenna Cole
The devotional poems in The Alchemy of Grace don’t preach or tell you how to live—instead they offer humble words that can be spoken with the poet, prayers that acknowledge the struggles of the journey of faith even as they celebrate the glory of the Christian promise. There are poems imploring help, asking forgiveness, admitting weakness and failure, and honestly facing the desire to give up, to stop trying, and to take the easy road. But shining through it all is the sun, the moon, the saints, and the sea, which each in their own way speak the majesty of God and the transformative power of life in Christ.
The book is inspired by the ground-breaking devotional poetry of Vittoria Colonna, the Renaissance poet who grew famous writing secular love sonnets before turning her back on worldly expectations and transforming the sonnet form into a vessel for devotional searching. These poems reimagine each of her 103 Sonnets for Michelangelo in fresh, contemporary language perfect for daily devotional reading, for prayer, for contemplation, and to turn to when you're struggling.
Without Which Nothing
Love Sonnets
by Ravenna Cole
Without Which Nothing is a love poem written to an absent husband over the course of a month. He’s working a job on a ship. The poet is camped out on the shore in Homer, Alaska, watching his ship come into port only to turn around and leave again. It is a lament and a celebration; it is despair and it is hope itself—hope for what love can be, hope for what love can do.
Originally composed in fourteen long lines inspired by the horizon, these sonnets were ultimately broken into half-lines to create twenty-eight-line poems embracing the expansiveness and verticality of Alaska. The fragmented lines are stacked on the page like stones in cairns, impromptu structures marking the way on wild, rugged paths. Exploring questions about the nature and meaning of art, work, marriage, children, aging, death, and heaven, the book is, above all, a meditation on love—without which nothing that is would be.
Subscribe to Ravenna's newsletter to receive occasional updates about new work and upcoming events:
