"God is at work/ in us, close/ to the bone" writes Norris, a poet perhaps best known for her three prose works (Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, 1993; The Cloister Walk, 1996; and Amazing Grace, 1998). These volumes found their inspiration in the spiritual renewal experienced by Norris through farm life, ministry to a small Midwestern church community, and extended retreats in a Benedictine monastery. Now she has brought together a well-rounded collection of her poetry spanning 30 years. Here are poems, arranged chronologically in four sections each beginning with a verse from the Song of Solomon, that tenderly describe an event or scene, examine it, and conclude with a flash of seemingly unrelated insight, leaving profound questions in the reader's heart: "Now the new mother, that leaky vessel,/ begins to nurse her child,/ beginning the long goodbye.
