I Used to Remember the Story of How by Katherine E. Schneider

The spirit manifested here is a deeply attentive one. Some of the instances Katherine Schneider writes about are Biblical and some are personal but all possess a quiet empathy that will not be denied. These beautiful poems make very true sense as they recognize human limitations and how many paths there are into those limitations, the “how” that is crucial and that, at once, dwarfs and illuminates our expectations, “whether bread, / or starlight—”

–Baron Wormser

Katherine Schneider’s book I Used to Remember the Story of How is about love of all kinds: primarily religious and divine, but human too.  My favorites in the collection are the religious poems—some of the most memorable I have read in this genre—but once we have the divine context, it is possible to understand the rest of the world differently, read it through a more awe-inspired message. We live in a society in which many attempt to be like other people. Schneider does not. She is herself, and it is the faith she has in her religiously-inspired worldview that is the surprise of this beautiful first collection.

–Kim Bridgford