Practicing the World, Paperback

The delights and conflicts of a loving marriage are revealed as the poet's husband is diagnosed with cancer and dies, all within months. Yet the present moment--birds at the feeder, creatures wild and domestic, dancing with her husband in the kitchen, and arguing hilariously about the afterlife--shimmers with life.

JUDITH SORNBERGER's poetry collections include Open Heart and Wal-Mart Orchid. Her spiritual travelogue The Accidental Pilgrim: Finding God and His Mother in Tuscany is from Shanti Arts Publications. As professor of English at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, she created the Women's Studies Program and taught writing before her recent retirement. She lives on the side of a mountain in north-central Pennsylvania with her cat Billy Bob, her dog Birdie, enjoying frequent visits from bobcats, bear, and deer.