The Church of the Love of the World

by Grace Wells

Things being so urgent, when you open a book its leaves should take you back to the forest they came from ... ('Vestige')
So opens the first poem in Grace Wells' The Church of the Love of the World, a book that begs us to "only connect" as it explores our individual roles - and the role of poetry itself - in these troubling times.
At once sure-footed and curious, optimistic and on the brink of despair, as well as stand-out lyric moments, the book features a number of longer poems and sequences, among them the extraordinary 'She Gathers the Wild Grasses' which explores our very real dependence on grasses, the evolution of society itself made possible by their contribution. As elsewhere, memory, myth, anecdote and hands-on experience are all woven together to produce, among other things,"my own dough - // something forever illiterate / and welcome / in signing each crust with my mark".
The Church of the Love of the World is a powerful and passionate new book, confirming the promise of Wells' previous collection, Fur, described in Poetry Ireland Review as work "that enlarges the possibilities of poetry".

Genres: Poetry

100 pages, Paperback

Published May 2, 2022

Reviews

[Rosamund Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Church of Love of the World, Grace Wells' third collection, is deeply concerned with the environmental crisis, our relationship to the natural world, and Wells' relationship to herself as she ages. While it is an urgent book, reminding us of the perilous state of the planet, it is also a subtle and deeply felt one. Wells' poems are slow and sensual explorations into the conundrums of life, and some of the most memorable of these are the Wells' long, expansive poetic sequences, such as 'She Gathers the Wild Grasses' which looks at a series of individual blades of grass found on a road verge in Italy, and describes them in precise detail, demonstrating the great variety of the world. These images run in counterpoint to Wells' concerns about pollution, and the changed and often toxic countryside. The book ends with two more poetic sequences, both of which are expansive and gripping: 'An Account of that Year in Fragments', which follows two overlapping health crises, and 'Cill Ghrá an Domhain' (the Irish for the church of love of the world) which uses a journey to the Aran Islands to look at depression, grief about the natural world, and the coastal landscape. By writing these long poems, Wells creates a space to look at questions without answers, and to explore a depth of emotion and grief. These are all deeply considered poems, which capture powerful feelings, and run grief in counterpoint to beauty. They are memorable for their subtlety, tenderness, resonance, and refusal to give empty messages of hope or complacency. I was very moved by this collection.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume of poetry was a delightful surprise. Wells writes beautifully and compellingly about the natural world. There is a political subtext to many of her poems. What I enjoyed the most was learning the story of St. Gobnait, the patron saint of healers and beekeepers. She particularly venerated on the Aran Islands.

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a stunning, tender, & moving collection of poems. I read the whole book in an afternoon because I just couldn't put it down. The way that Grace Wells weaves her human experience of journeying with loss and illness with climate grief and an abiding intimacy with nature and the world of Spirit and saints is enchanting. I am utterly in love.