Sharon Lia Robinson's Wayward Star: Devotional Poems (50 pp, Dancing Heart Press 2017) offers glimpses into the heart practices of a woman's long, unique, interfaith spiritual journey. Who is this seasoned feminist artist who draws so confidently from the wells of Catholicism, Judaism, and the wisdom of Indian spiritual master Meher Baba? The brief biographical sketch at the end tantalizes as much as it informs.
In the poem Even Though, she speaks of
the long lost years of waiting
when my soul was in reprieve...
I was placed in the Jewish orphanage
then the Methodist children's home
But this slim volume is less a spiritual autobiography than a series of snapshots, or postcards, evoking moments from the writer's path. Some are brief and pithy as haiku:
arrow through my heart
thank you, Beloved
and
Thank you
for the path
through the wilderness
Others, such as “A Chant for Mrs T,” “My Raggedy Ann Doll,” or “Passing by Her Home” are more narrative, recalling some of the “interfaith angels” who have accompanied Robinson on particular stretches of the journey from her Bat Mitzvah in Croton-on-Hudson to St. Mary Star of the Sea in Port Townsend.
I particularly enjoyed this book because I met Robinson in Cambridge, in the early 80s, when she was active in feminist artistic circles with performance pieces such as “Whoever I am, I'm a fat woman.” Through a mutual friend, a follower of Meher Baba, I inherited her apartment, as such things happened in those days, and years later buried a beloved dog wrapped in the beautiful patchwork quilt that had been hers. I cannot help seeing Wayward Star in light of her earlier work and our previous (though slight) acquaintance, and I am intrigued and somehow gladdened by the contemplative tones of this older Robinson with her sweetly budding, but never saccharine, devotion to Mother Mary even as her spirituality remains enformed by Meher Baba's universalism.
Thank you, Sharon, for sharing these poems! You offer us glimpses from a path that has wound through trauma, through personal transformation, through many different spiritual landscapes, and which shows no sign of ending.
Zo Newell, PhD
Author of Downward Dogs and Warriors: Wisdom Tales for Modern Yogis
