A Shimmer of Something: Lean Stories of Spiritual Substance by Doyle, Brian (2014) Paperback

by Brian Doyle

Prose poems, chants, litanies, simple songs, cadenced prayers, brief bursts of rhythmic observation, elegies to little moments that are not little at all in the least whatsoever—welcome to the melodic world of Brian Doyle’s “proems,” swirling with voices unreeling tales, souls telling stories, moments photographed with ink. Accessible, easy to read, blunt, brief, and sometimes unforgettable, “these are not poems,” says the author, “but life set to the music of poetry.” In A Shimmer of Something, Brian Doyle’s characteristic humor and sincerity combine to make this collection a delight to read. From his conviction that miracles breed ripples that do not cease, to his lack of faith about the life of an elderberry bush, to the amusing story of a friend’s experience of driving the Dalai Lama to Seattle, to the humorous experience of his second Confession, to an intimate story of love and loss, Doyle’s lean stories of spiritual substance inspire, entertain, and captivate.

Genres: Poetry, Spirituality

Paperback

First published February 1, 2014

About the author

Doyle's essays and poems have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, The American Scholar, Orion, Commonweal, and The Georgia Review, among other magazines and journals, and in The Times of London, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Kansas City Star, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Ottawa Citizen, and Newsday, among other newspapers. He was a book reviewer for The Oregonian and a contributing essayist to both Eureka Street magazine and The Age newspaper in Melbourne, Australia.

Doyle's essays have also been reprinted in:

* the Best American Essays anthologies of 1998, 1999, 2003, and 2005;
* in Best Spiritual Writing 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2005; and
* in Best Essays Northwest (2003);
* and in a dozen other anthologies and writing textbooks.

As for awards and honors, he had three startling children, an incomprehensible and fascinating marriage, and he was named to the 1983 Newton (Massachusetts) Men's Basketball League all-star team, and that was a really tough league.

Doyle delivered many dozens of peculiar and muttered speeches and lectures and rants about writing and stuttering grace at a variety of venues, among them Australian Catholic University and Xavier College (both in Melbourne, Australia), Aquinas Academy (in Sydney, Australia); Washington State, Seattle Pacific, Oregon, Utah State, Concordia, and Marylhurst universities; Boston, Lewis & Clark, and Linfield colleges; the universities of Utah, Oregon, Pittsburgh, and Portland; KBOO radio (Portland), ABC and 3AW radio (Australia); the College Theology Society; National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation," and in the PBS film Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero (2002).

Doyle was a native of New York, was fitfully educated at the University of Notre Dame, and was a magazine and newspaper journalist in Portland, Boston, and Chicago for more than twenty years. He was living in Portland, Oregon, with his family when died at age 60 from complications related to a brain tumor.

Reviews

[Dianah (onourpath) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly poems, possibly (really, really) short stories, possibly mini essays, Brian Doyle’s “box poems” – smallish bits of writing with perfectly aligned edges and not one word short or extra -- are so perfectly exact, they seem utterly intriguing even before you start to read. (How, exactly, did he do that?)

Doyle is a man who lives and breathes stories, and this slim book is stuffed with them. The almost worshipful view Doyle has of life’s minutia is sometimes breathtaking – how does he articulate so clearly the myriad things that catch his attention (things that almost all of us never even notice)? Doyle writes, “Maybe we guzzle forty stories with every breath we draw and they soak into us and flavor and thicken and spice the wild stew we are.” Doyle’s style is so offbeat and unusual, every time I read him, I envision all his stories lined up inside him, so tightly packed, that they escape in a giant, gorgeous burst of words and laughter.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doyle's pieces are called "promes" - prose and poems. They are short (one to two page) essays on faith, hopefulness, family, nature, and general observations of the world. I love Doyle's jaunty writing style. He manages to be poetic, yet seem conversational at the same time. His reflections are optimistic and often caused me to smile. While he does have some somber (and one angry) passages, even those have a feeling of sacred appreciation of humankind. Doyle is Catholic, and he includes many biblical and religious reflections, but the messages in those reflections remained universal and can be appreciated by all.

[Bea Krauss · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gift from a friend, these prose poems celebrate the sacred in the quotidian. We all need to do more of that We should all have such friends.