Wild Goose Publications

Time Seeds is a collection of poems celebrating life, acknowledging loss and asserting the moral imperative of hope and renewal. Already acclaimed for her eloquently written works of historical fiction, Margaret Elphinstone has now applied her skills to a collection of writing which has adopted the brevity and immediacy of poetry to articulate the urgency and perils of our times. Each turn of the page brings its own surprise, whether a deeply personal or globally challenging idea. This is no predictable poetry collection. Nor, despite the passionately expressed fears for all living beings, is it a missal of doom. A belief in renewal, she argues, is essential, though the form it will take is as yet unknown and may surprise us. Doing nothing is not an option. Failure to hope would be a terrible betrayal of future generations, not just of humanity but of all life. These wholly approachable poems share moments from a life richly observed. Here are poems of time and memory, experience, and gratitude for the beauty of the world. They are bright, full of colour and unpretentious, shaped by Margaret Elphinstone’s characteristic wisdom and warmth. – Kathleen Jamie

The historic story of Christ, the outside story of Christ, suddenly emerges as the inside story of yourself …’ – George MacLeodIn a world often marked by turbulence and uncertainty, where do we find the courage to keep walking toward the light? The Iona Community affirms that our faith is ‘rooted in hope: lived in community’. This is not a fingers-crossed optimism, but a gritty, determined commitment to the transformative power of love and justice when joined with that of our neighbour. In this collection, a new generation of theologians and writers, members of the Iona Community’s Young Adults Group, volunteers, and those who have lived and worked at the Abbey, invite us to walk the road from the gates of Jerusalem to the empty tomb.  Through fresh reflections on familiar scriptures, they explore the ‘feet-on-the-ground’ gap between our hopes and their fulfilment, weaving the outside story of Christ with their own lived experiences of intentional community.  From the humble defiance of Palm Sunday to the ‘tender messiness’ of foot-washing on Maundy Thursday, and from the stark solidarity of Good Friday to the radical hope of Resurrection, these voices offer a call to action. They connect the ancient story of Christ’s passion with contemporary struggles for justice, drawing parallels between Jesus’ outcasts and today’s refugees, between the despised of first-century Palestine and the marginalised in our own communities.  Ruth Harvey is Leader of the Iona Community. Contributors include Dr. Victoria Turner, Evie Nieboer, Indigo Maynard Watts, Annie Sharples, Jack Woodruff, Molly Boot, William Gibson and Lakshmi Piette Walker – young adults who have lived in community at Iona Abbey and are members of the Community’s Young Adults Network.

With these poems and meditations Bonnie B. Thurston continues her unsentimental journey through darkness towards light. Following the steep ascent of Holy Week from the uneasy hope and celebration of Palm Sunday, through the long stillness of Holy Saturday, and into the fragile dawn of Easter, they speak honestly of loss and exhaustion, yet remain fiercely attentive to grace breaking through the ordinary days. Written with theological depth and poetic restraint, they remain close to lived experience: grief and fatigue, waiting and watching, the costly, unremarkable work of love. Rooted in scripture and shaped by a life intentionally lived quietly, Thurston’s voice is both disciplined and compassionate. She does not seek to resolve the mystery of resurrection, but to stay with it, to listen, to endure, and to trust that love, extravagant and undeserved, is already at work. Having stepped away from an academic career for a quiet life in West Virginia, Thurston writes from the margins: attentive to silence, service, grief and the slow work of faith. This is a book for those who know that Easter is not hurried, that resurrection carries the shadow of the cross, for readers who walk Holy Week with open eyes and steady hearts, trusting that even in darkness, love is already at work. It invites us to pause, ponder, and find solace in the transformative mystery of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection.

Folding a River is a sweeping poetic testament to migration, memory and the fragile work of hope. In this powerful new collection, Alison Phipps and Tawona Sitholé draw on years of intercultural practice, peace-building and international research to create poems shaped by ceremony, humour, lament and fierce tenderness. Moving across continents and crises, they weave rivers, forests, ancestors and everyday encounters into a shared language of resilience. These poems speak to displacement and belonging, to wounds that demand tending, and to the courage required to remake community. A vital, genre-defying collection for a world in search of liberation and healing.

The narrow straits: The stretch of water between Ireland and Scotland The perilous, hopeful path of the refugee. The hidden, inner journey we all take to find the shore Historian and social justice advocate Rosemary Power maps the stormy crossings of the human spirit. Drawing on her deep connection to the Hebrides and a lifetime of advocating for the vulnerable, she offers poems that go to the heart of human experience and illuminate the most difficult straits of our lives.  From the stormy seas between Ireland and Scotland to the harrowing, eternal struggles of refugees seeking safety, these poems capture moments when land – and hope – is both tantalisingly close and agonisingly out of reach.

Gazelles and geckos, bees and bears, whelks and elks, cats who skip and dogs who read stories to children, stags and stag beetles, neon tetras and harlequin rasboras, mice and rats and other critters - The Blessing of Animals teems with God's amazing creation. You can hear the voice of God on every page: 'Woof!' 'Miaow!' Along with many beautiful prayers and poems to dip into, this book also includes: ~ Reflections on feline and canine theology~ An all-age communion service for the Feast of Saint Francis~ A litany for the blessing of animals~ A service for the blessing of animals~ Thoughts on losing an animal friend~ A lamentation and prayer to the whole of creation For every Border collie and sheepdog,for every golden retriever and Great Dane,we give you thanks. For every squawk and tweet,for every flitter and flutter,we give you thanks. For every tortoiseshell, marmalade and Russian Blue,for every loquacious Siamese,we give you thanks. (From a litany by Thom M. Shuman)

I am going further north, he saidI do not know what I will findperhaps I will not come backall I know is that I must seekthis somewhere with all my soulIn the 7th century, Irish hermit monks left the island of Iona and dared to cross an unforgiving ocean to the wild, unknown shores of Iceland. What did they find there, on the edge of their worl? nspired by this incredible journey, poet Kenneth Steven distilled their experience into this sequence of poems that are sparse and pared to the bone, suggesting simple fragments of story recorded by the monks after their return to Scotland. A Song Among the Stones has been taken and interpreted by numerous artists and musicians in Scotland and beyond, the latest of whom is Simon de Voil.

What if prayer is not about having the right words, but about noticing the sacred in washing dishes, the rhythm of breath, or the quiet sharing of tea with a frien? argaret Somerville invites us to rediscover prayer as a way of living, not a formula to get right. With wisdom drawn from her Celtic roots, lifelong pilgrimage to the Isle of Iona, and deep engagement with Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Jewish traditions, she reimagines prayer as presence in the ordinary. From her granny's morning ritual of lighting the coal fire to the contemplative kneading of bread, she shows how holiness shimmers in the small gestures of daily life. Through six pathways - Sacred Space, Release, Naming, Wilderness, Nourishment and Peace - the author offers gentle practices and stories that carry us beyond unanswered petitions into a deeper communion with self, others and the divine mystery. Both memoir and spiritual guide, this book speaks to seekers who are weary of rigid traditions or silence from heaven, and to all who long for prayer that nourishes rather than disappoints. With a foreword by Kaitlin Curtice.

Poems that arrive like gentle reminders that life is happening — right now, right here — and it’s trying to tell you something. Following the quiet cult success of Julian of Norwich’s Teabag — described by Bono in the New York Times as his ‘favourite book no one’s heard of’ — poet and broadcaster Martin Wroe returns with this luminous new collection. His work bridges the spiritual and the secular with the grace of someone who’s not trying to win an argument — it just tells the truth beautifully and often makes you laugh along the way. This breath that calls to stillnessThis heart that holds a universeThis fleeting understandingThat both are still expandingEvery day is a poem. The trees bowing to each other in the breeze. The cyclist pedalling through the air. That song about you on the radio. A robin waiting for you to answer her question. A loved one whose life is disappearing. Poem or prayer, psalm or song, all the same exercise in getting silence to cough up some truth. Every day is a poem. And everyone we meet. This heart does not existThis heart is a metaphorThis heart is a poemThe truest thing of all

In this compelling collection of poems, Martyn Halsall embraces the Lenten season not just as a Christian observance but as a state of being – one of wilderness, waiting and transformation. His poetry resists straightforward answers, instead inviting readers into a space of stillness and questioning, where meanings shift and possibilities unfold.  From personal memories to historical and contemporary struggles, Halsall’s work moves through exile, pilgrimage and alienation, always attuned to the unexpected and the peripheral. His poems do not assert but explore, asking, ‘What if?’ and answering, ‘Yes, but …’ – offering both reflection and reappraisal.  With a journalist’s eye and a poet’s heart, Martyn Halsall crafts a collection that is both a passport and a signpost, guiding readers through Lent’s deeper resonances. Life itself, he suggests, is something we are lent – a gift, a process, a question still unfolding.

Embark on a journey through Lent with this moving collection of poems that guides readers on a reflective path from Ash Wednesday to Easter Monday. Each poem draws from the profound themes of Lent, Holy Week and the Resurrection, capturing the essence of Jesus’ temptations, suffering and ultimate triumph. Inspired by the Stations of the Cross and the poignant moments of Holy Week, these verses invite readers to imagine the unimaginable, offering fresh perspectives and evocative imagery that bring to life the emotional and spiritual landscapes of this sacred period. A valuable companion for the Lenten season, this collection reminds us that even in the wilderness, the desert shall rejoice and blossom.

In this three-decade-long collection of aphorisms, Yahia Lababidi combines Eastern mysticism, Western philosophy and his Arab heritage to explore life's fundamental questions. Drawing from diverse traditions, he crafts concise observations about love, spirituality, suffering and self-discovery. Lababidi's aphorisms are at once philosophical and poetic, serving as beacons of truth in our fast-paced, digital age. In the words of Naomi Shihab Nye, beloved Palestinian-American poet: ‘If Yahia Samir Lababidi were in charge of a country, I would want to live there.’In a time of genocide and world conflict, soundbites, and social media noise, What Remains To Be Said provides a much-needed space for contemplation, offering both wisdom and solace to all who seek them. Lababidi is an aphorist of the spirit. His aphorisms could form a new gnostic religion, and I could dwell a long while inside them. Yahia Lababidi may be our greatest living aphorist. — Sharon Dolin, poet