The Book of Splendor: New and Selected Poems on Spiritual Themes

From the pure light of the High Sierra to sandwich wrappers blown against a chain fence, David Shaddock has the visionary ability to see, everywhere, the numinosity of what surrounds us. This empowers him to approach also the Holy within the deep tangled griefs of our lives.

Peter Dale Scott, Professor of English, emeritus, University of California, author of Poetry and Terror and Coming to Jakarta

David Shaddock discovers splendor in the mundane. By the power of his lyrical imagination, he liberates the divine sparks trapped within their material shells. Thereby he translates the ancient wisdom of Jewish spirituality into a scintillating modern idiom for contemporary readers and seekers.

Daniel C. Matt, author of The Essential Kabbalah and the multivolume annotated translation, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition

Shaddock’s poetry, of course, is words, but one hears thought and deed and stillness in it. The thought that springs from Kabbalah, the mystical thought-pattern of the Jewish people. The action that seeks to heal the broken earth. The stillness of Shabbat, where we can be tranquil in the world that is all God.

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Director, The Shalom Center, author of Seasons of Our Joy and God Wrestling.