The Church Not Made with Hands

Lynn Szabo is an assistant professor of English at Trinity Western
University in Langley, B.C.

The Church Not Made with Hands reveals the craftsmanship of a carpenter
who represents creative art not with screws and wood, but with words and
images. The church thus formed is depicted in this collection through
the relationships that human beings have with one another and with their
home, the Earth, and its Creator.

Each section of this volume is finely tuned to particular aspects of
the seasonal and liturgical calendar. Intimate moments with family,
nature, and God serve as counterpoints to moments of intensity. The
poems in the chapter titled “Starshout Café” demonstrate
Terpstra’s facility at building the subtle crescendo that the music of
poetry demands.

The narration in Terpstra’s poems is intelligent, alert, and highly
aware that “so much of what takes place between / goes unspoken / Most
of what happens is not seen.” This sensitivity informs the universal
longing for significance in communication: “If only I could know / my
place / and learn to speak.” The narrative voice also portrays
conflict and conundrum. Biblical allusion, colloquial language, the
juxtaposition of the abstract and concrete—all combine to keep
Terpstra’s poems firmly planted in the ground of human experience
while also reaching high into the cosmic questions of life, death,
origins, and immortality.