Prayers of a Secular World (ed by Jordie Albiston & Kevin Brophy, Inkerman & Blunt)

Prayers of a Secular World is a collection of poems that explores the idea that modern life demands modern forms of worship; that there is something within the human spirit that cannot stand meaninglessness. The majority of Australians are no longer religious in the conventional sense; however, this anthology assumes that there is something within us that is more than human and demands expression. Edited by poets Jordie Albiston and Kevin Brophy, Prayers of a Secular World contains the reflections from over 80 poets, including Cate Kennedy, Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Judith Beveridge, Ron Pretty, Lesley Lebkowicz and Robyn Rowland, as well as some new and emerging voices. Standout poems riff off the original definition of secular, ‘to make worldly’, and delve into the ramifications of the shift from a spirit above to the sacred within. For instance, in Anne Carson’s lovely ‘The Air Holds Its Breath’, the grieving daughter at a funeral finds sacredness has become a dimension of everyday life as the very molecules around her rearrange ‘to adjust to his dying’. ‘Don’t’ by Mark Hetherington is a deceptively simple poem; a modern-day lamentation that could just as easily be a prayer or incantation. This anthology is big, unwieldly and ambitious—it demands no religious sensibility of the reader, but delivers an abundance of speculation and wonder.

Hilary Simmons is a former assistant editor at Books+Publishing and a freelance reviewer and journalist

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Category: Reviews