Posted February 4, 2013 Book: My Soul Feels Lean: Poems of Loss and Restoration Author: Joyce Rupp Sorin Books. Notre Dame, IN. 2013. pp. 158 An Excerpt from the Jacket: My Soul Feels Lean is a journey into compassion. Drawing on insights from her Christian faith and her lifelong connection to the Iowa farmland of her birth, Joyce Rupp offers here an entirely new collection of 106 meditative poems on a theme she's woven masterfully through all her writing --- the pain of loss and the restoration found in letting go and trusting. An Excerpt from the Book: Watching Rain Most of an entire day I sat and watched the rain fall, the hard downpour, the fullness, the pause, the steady drip, the plop, the softness, the gentleness. I looked at single droplets, Gather at the tip of each pin needle, saw how the rain rinsed the green and yellow meadow of its dusty residue and left the lupine shining. I noticed the aspen leaves slightly tremble with each touch of moisture, studied the fluffed fur of the healthy chipmunk ripping seeds from a tall, green gentian refreshed after the showers. All day I observed the wetness, the way every layer and line, every chip and hue of color became sharply visible, the density and depth of bark as rain soaked its ridges. I studied the impermanence of clouds that darkened, lightened, drenched the land, receded, leaving a thick mist behind. I walked some in the rain, too, but mostly gazed in silence, a secret admirer loving how rain can change a landscape and revive a deadened heart. Table of Contents: Loss Restoration