Sprouts: Meditations

by Polly Alice McCann, Cheryl Moran (Illustrator), Brianne Turczynski

SPROUTS is a collection of contemporary meditations on faith, hope, and love by more than twenty-five poets, artists, authors, and contemplatives from as many faith backgrounds. These creatives share their remarkable journeys to joy and sustenance.

Gentle, humble, ecumenical, these meditations create moments of wonder and solace to reflect that this journey is one we walk together. Even when we don’t know how, faith sprouts up where we least expect it. Simple scriptures accompany both prose and poetry to remind you there are seasons of rest and renewal for your heart, mind, and spirit.

This book glows with beauty. Illustrated with luscious pastels and paintings by featured artist Cheryl Moran, in addition to more than four dozen original works by meditative artists. Travel the seasons of the inner life, from doubt to fullness, from sorrow to joy, from sprout to harvest. This uplifting collection is a unique spiritual retreat for the creative soul.

144 pages, Paperback

Published July 3, 2023

About the author

POLLY ALICE MCCANN’s lyrical poetry paints a picture of the narratives of the internal heartland. That’s not surprising since she is also an artist. Her art and poetry have been published in US newspapers and magazines most recently in Rattle magazine. A professor of English, she is also the founder and manager of FLYING KETCHUP PRESS. She credits much of her creative work due to her research on dreams which won her the 2014 Ernest Hartmann award from Berkeley, CA. Find her first three poetry collections, Kinlight, Tea with Alice, and Puss ‘N Boötes online. Polly Alice has also edited two collections of short stories and two poetry anthologies. The most recent, “The Very Edge” is a collection of 37 international artists and poets. With her MFA in Writing from Hamline University in St. Paul, with an emphasis in poetry and short fiction, her poetry has published internationally in journals such as Naugatuck River, and arc24 in Tel Aviv and elsewhere. She says her favorite thing is to tell stories-- other people's, her own-- maybe yours.

In her first book of poetry, Kinlight, she uses narrative free verse to explore the measures taken as a woman to find a place to become visible: 'I will not forget,' she writes. 'I am woman, all things began in me.' Ghosts and vapors, flour and light, her first collection remain subtle in color, but dives into bone and marrow of women in today's America.