Second Sky: Poems

by Tania Runyan

In Second Sky, Runyan intertwines the life and writings of the Apostle Paul with the spiritual journey of a modern suburban woman confronting the broken world. Second Sky wrestles with the deeply personal challenges presented in Paul's letters and putting on the new self, burying oneself with Christ, and counting all as loss while driving through snowstorms, reading horrific headlines, and bathing the family dog. These are not simple poems of religious inspiration; they are steely encounters with the living God. Runyan invites us to work out our salvation in rusted Cadillacs, operating rooms, and packs of wild coyotes. Meanwhile, Paul runs from the collapsing walls of his prison cell toward shipwrecks and vipers, meeting us on our own roads to Damascus, the earth breaking open to a second sky of faith.

Genres: Poetry

84 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 2013

About the author

Tania Runyan is the author of several poetry collections, including What Will Soon Take Place, Second Sky, and A Thousand Vessels. Her first book-length creative nonfiction title, Making Peace With Paradise: An Autobiography of a California Girl, was released in 2022. Tania’s instructional guides, How to Read a Poem, How to Write a Poem, and How to Write a Form Poem, are used in classrooms across the country, and her poems have appeared in publications such as Poetry, Image, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, and The Christian Century. Tania was awarded an NEA Literature Fellowship in 2011. She lives with her family in Illinois, where she teaches sixth grade language arts.

Reviews

[Joshua Jipp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I teach divinity school courses on the Apostle Paul's Letters as well as the Acts of the Apostles (where Paul's life is narrated). I really enjoyed these poems, many of which use a theme/verse from one of Paul's letters (or Paul in Acts) to reflect upon mundane real-life experiences. Some of my favorite were Awake O Sleeper (Eph. 5:14), The Greatest of These (1 Cor 13); The Fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22); Onesimus Speaks (Philemon).

[Maura · Rating 2 out of 5]

(women’s lit class) i was inspired by how Runyan interpreted events she saw in her life and created poems from it, but i could not connect to the poems themselves.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I pray that I can unclench and love,
find the mysteries of the Spirit
in swaths of black ice, the arms

of Christ in the muscled mounds of snow.
The exits count down toward home.
We're safe, I say, we're safe. I'm safe."

(from "Setting My Mind")

This book was full of the right words at the right time. It reminded me how powerful poetry can be.

[Farzana Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging, incisive, memorable rendition in verse of an experience of Pauline writings. I think my favorite poem was "The Fruit of the Spirit:"

"And the ice cream made it past
the ten-hour mark. That's as sweet
as peaches in August, my friend,

that's juice running down my beard."

[John Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and accessible contemporary Christian poems, interweaving modern personal experience with interpretations and perspectives on the career and writings of St. Paul. The somewhat longer multi-part poems ("The Road to Damascus" and "Pilgrimage") are especially noteworthy.

[Cara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly lovely book of poetry. I will definitely revisit, and seek out more of Tania's poetry.

[Stephanie Fosnight Regester · Rating 4 out of 5]

A challenging, no-holds barred tussle of the modern American life of faith. I think truly engaging with the poems takes commitment but then the commitment pays off.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

raw, rich and true

[Emma McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW. I know I liked Tania’s poetry, but WOW.