Reversing Entropy: Poems

· Paraclete Press
Ebook
128
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook


From the pen of beloved poet Luci Shaw comes a new collection that celebrates inspired creativity as an antidote to chaos.
The poet's own words best describe the heart of this pinnacle collection of new work by beloved writer Luci Shaw:



Entropy: A measure of the molecular disorder, or randomness, of a system, its lack of order or predictability, resulting in a gradual decline into disorder.



Our universe, and the systems within it, constantly shift from their created states of order towards disorder, or chaos. The second law of thermodynamics asserts that entropy, or disorder, always increases with time. Creative human activities such as art, architecture, music, story or film are human efforts to halt and reverse this loss of meaning. Thus, smaller systems, like individual poems, become highly ordered as they receive energy from outside themselves, from the poet. They reverse entropy because they are moving from a state of disorder (all the random ideas, words and phrases available to the writer) into an orderly form designed by the writer to create meaningful images and concepts in the reader's mind (which is where the word "imag-ination" comes from.) This transfer of images, concepts and ideas into the mind of a reader is the task of poetry and the calling of the poet. Just as a composer of music gathers rhythms, notes, melodies, or harmony, organizing them into fugues or sonatas or concertos, so poets work and write to discover ways of arranging their responses to the world in words that introduce meaning and beauty in the mind of the reader.



Which is what I've been trying to do for most of my life.


From the pen of beloved poet Luci Shaw comes a new collection that celebrates inspired creativity as an antidote to chaos. The poet's own words best describe the heart of this pinnacle collection of new work by beloved writer Luci Shaw: Entropy: A measure of the molecular disorder, or random...

About the author

Luci Shaw (1928-2025) was born in London, England, in 1928. A poet and essayist whose writing has appeared in numerous literary and religious journals, in 2013 she received the tenth annual Denise Levertov Award for Creative Writing from Seattle Pacific University, and in 2023 she received the Kenneth N. Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her lifetime of work in the Christian publishing industry. The author of over thirty-five books of poetry and creative non-fiction, she served as Writer in Residence at Regent College, Vancouver.

Luci Shaw (1928-2025) was born in London, England, in 1928. A poet and essayist whose writing has appeared in numerous literary and religious journals, in 2013 she received the tenth annual Denise Levertov Award for Creative Writing from Seattle Pacific University, and in 2023 she received the Ke...

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.