Listening with the Ear of the Heart: Writers at St Peter's

Douglas Barbour is a professor of English at the University of Alberta.
He is the author of Lyric/anti-lyric : Essays on Contemporary Poetry,
Breath Takes, and Fragmenting Body Etc.

Listening with the Ear of the Heart is an anthology of praise for
writing itself, as well as for the space and time, both physical and
psychological, that St. Peter’s Abbey in Saskatchewan has offered to
the many writers who have attended retreats there over the past
quarter-century. Seventy-six writers, some well known (Guy Vanderhaeghe,
Myrna Kostash, Jan Zwicky, Don McKay) and some very new to the game,
offer stories, poems, and memoirs written under the influence of, and
often about, St. Peter’s Abbey.

Simply for introducing readers to these varied writers and their works,
this anthology deserves praise, but it is the special circumstances of
its birth that make it such a delightful collection. Most of the writers
have added a personal note about their relationship to the monastery and
the monks who welcome artists to their meditative place. Abbot Peter
Novecosky is right to be proud that “St. Peter’s is a place where
the arts continue to thrive and to be fostered” and that it “can be
a place of quiet where the creative energies of so many writers and
artists have been able to flower and bear fruit.”

Readers will find a wide range of work here, but it’s all
celebratory, and that’s not a bad thing these days. Editors Dave
Margoshes and Shelley Sopher have collected a bunch of wildflowers that
were allowed their place in the quiet community that is St. Peter’s
Abbey. Listening with the Ears of the Heart is an anthology to treasure.