A Canopy of Stars: Poems

by Jennifer Read Hawthorne

You say you want to know me?
My poems will tell you everything.
In the stories of my life, you will find me,
beneath the words and in between,
in the essence that underlies all Story.
—from “Meeting Billy Collins”

“Jennifer Hawthorne’s new book is full of gorgeous poems of heart, spirit, and love. She bares her soul inside every word and fills her poems with light, revealing a lifetime of spiritual journeys in such an open way that the reader can enter her stories and poems and see a clear reflection of their own life journey. In the tradition of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, she argues with God about what the world has become and pleads with God to come out of hiding. She takes us with her to exotic places around the world, and as I read, she brought me to tears and goosebumps so many times. This is a good book to read, especially now, during troubled times.”
—Diane Frank, author of While Listening to the Enigma Variations

“A Canopy of Stars is a kind of processional through a poet’s life, written both retrospectively and in anticipation of things to come, beheld in the prism of both ordinary and celestial incidence. There is travelogue in notably privileged experiences, and extraordinary vision given from far-off places and saints encountered there. The course of the volume is mediated throughout with a very appealing use of the haibun form, offering certain emblematic ‘nodes’ of revelation through its inherent device. As the text is cast in sections, an inner portion of the book, ‘Holy Love,’ embeds in the text like a golden yolk in the body of an egg. I found myself returning to it time and again for its wise and profound delight as I read through this lovely collection.”
—Sean Sexton, author of Portals and May Darkness Restore; Poet Laureate of Indian River County, Florida, 2016–2024