Ringing the Changes by Kathleen McCoy

Kathleen M^cCoy’s Ringing the Changes is a multifaceted and generous-hearted exploration of mystery in its many forms. With a splendid variety of subject and poetic form, with mature and seasoned command of her craft, she speaks the fullest truths of her engagements with matters of spirit, dream, and art. The foundation is deeply Christian yet open to other faiths. In poems that are musically engaging, honest about doubt and failure, spiky, and complex, she beautifully manages to speak what almost cannot be spoken.

–David Graham

After reading the first ten pages or so of Kathleen M^cCoy ‘s Ringing the Changes, a word leapt into my mind that seemed at first — in this era of cynicism — cloddish. And yet the word remained with me: “ecstatic”. McCoy’s poems rush forth with jubilant, heartbroken, age-old emergency. I have read few other volumes — none by contemporary poets — where I must heed the speaker’s cry of unmitigated love of God. In the hands of a less masterful writer, poems this spiritually urgent would overwhelm. But McCoy’s work reaches for the reader with reassurance and grace. One cannot speak of this unforgettable book without speaking of poetic ecstasy. Ringing the Changes is daring, otherworldly, and brimming with gorgeous challenge.

–Frannie Lindsay, author of If Mercy