How do we relate the different parts of our lives, our identities and roles? In Notes from a Eucharistic Life, Manon Ceridwen James explores the range of stories we tell about ourselves and the stories others tell about us—mother, woman, Welsh, priest, lecturer, sports fan, consumer… Each call for attention, sometimes integrating, sometimes competing for space.

There is a sense of movement in the service of the Eucharist that is captured in these poems—from welcome, through confession and listening to the ‘Word’, to the final dismissal—and these elements are not only present in a religious life. Confession, in the poetry of Notes from a Eucharistic Life, becomes a tool for exploring truth, with humour as well as precision; the ‘Word’ opens up questions of voice and language…

Above all, what unites the pieces in this collection is the sense that all of it can be given thanks for, all of it is sacred.