1928 – 2025
What held the browning leaf to its stem
so long—a link that lasted a summer’s life time?
“Leaf, fallen”
Luci Shaw, one of the luminaries of faith and letters, passed away on December 1st at the age of 96. The daughter of medical missionaries, she lived abroad in both Canada and Australia before coming to the United States to attend Wheaton College.
She was a charter member of the Chrysostom Society of Writers, author of fourteen volumes of poetry and numerous works of non-fiction, and writer in residence at Regent College. She also served as an editor for the arts journal Radix and Regent’s academic journal, Crux. In 2013, Shaw received the Denise Levertov Award for Creative Writing from Seattle Pacific University.
Asked about the role of the poet in today’s society, Shaw once said, “I’ve sometimes drawn a parallel between poets and prophets because both speak into a culture that finds it hard to listen. Both bear the burden of calling some aspect of reality to our attention.” But if prophets often speak in startling and direct language, Shaw drew our attention to the mystery and miracle in small, ordinary things and simple lives: a chipped cup, an unremarkable chair, or the quiet moment following the Annunciation, when Mary was the only one who knew.
If you have never explored Shaw’s writing, a number of her poems are available online at her website.
header image: “European Robin,” 2013, Kairos Photography
