Bright Mornings, Lit Paths
Poems, Prayers, and Prose Along the Way
Transmitting warmth and love for all creatures on earth, Bright Mornings, Lit Paths is a soothing religious poetry collection.
Patti Jones Morgan’s faith-filled poetry book Bright Mornings, Lit Paths celebrates beauty in the world.
Honoring the earth and its creatures from the perspective of a Christian, many of these brief poems personify animals and the natural world, promote love and peace in the face of global conflicts, and acknowledge the power of words. While the poems are separated into sections titled “Glory,” “Love,” and “Wonder,” themes of Christian faith and prayer run throughout.
“Eden Still” argues that the world is still beautiful despite its wars; finding beauty and love in all places is encouraged in poems like “Dandelion Wars,” wherein a man cries “Oh, no—a dandelion. / I hate them the most!”, trying to stop the plant from growing while also acknowledging its place in nature:
Bright and gold, up it jumped
From its grassy bed of night.
Ready to greet each passerby,
With sunny smile to cheer their eye.
Everyday moments factor in throughout: A turtle in danger scurries across a garden; the feeling of being surrounded by “the wide expanse of blue” and ascending into the sky is recalled. Elsewhere, an older dog waits for a person on their morning walk, and the scene exudes love that transcends words; and the wondrous scenery of Jesus’s hometown of Galilee is tied to the modern land in an affecting statement of solidarity. Homages to other poets, including Roger Parker and John Ellis, also play in.
The nature-focused entries include standout imagery. In “The Bee Tree,” a tree “hums like a power line / A willowy wand of crepe myrtle.” Alliteration and rhymes are used to exemplify natural rhythms, as with the pleasant swaying of the tree’s branches. And in “Great Expectations,” a majestic hawk surveys its surroundings in silence, its patience hinting at a lesson that is not pronounced.
While the book’s perspective is broad in general (there are acknowledgments of struggling nations, references to inspiring biblical passages, and expressions of Christian practice that transmit warmth and love for all), the collection also becomes quite personal in places, as with “Norway Dreams,” a yearning entry about wanting to own a home in the nation’s mountains. And all is embellished by the book’s lovely photographs, which appear at welcome interludes.
A soothing poetry collection, Bright Mornings, Lit Paths features idyllic observations of the world that are reflective of respect for nature and deep Christian faith.
Reviewed by
Aleena Ortiz
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
