This vol­ume of con­tem­po­rary litur­gi­cal poet­ry is both a poet­ry col­lec­tion and an aid to devo­tion­al prayer. Open My Lips dips into the deep well of Jew­ish tra­di­tion and brings forth renewed and renew­ing adap­ta­tions of, and riffs on, clas­si­cal Jew­ish litur­gy. Here are poems for week­day and Shab­bat, fes­ti­val sea­sons (includ­ing the Days of Awe and Passover), and psalms of grief and praise. Open My Lips offers a clear, read­able, heart­felt point of access into the Jew­ish tra­di­tion and into prayer in general.

Those who wish to begin a prayer prac­tice in Eng­lish but don’t know where to start will find this vol­ume offers sev­er­al start­ing points. These poems could be used to aug­ment an exist­ing prayer prac­tice, Jew­ish or oth­er­wise ­- either on a soli­tary basis or for con­gre­ga­tion­al use. For the read­er of poet­ry unfa­mil­iar with litur­gi­cal text, they can serve as an intro­duc­tion to prayer in gen­er­al, and Jew­ish prayer in par­tic­u­lar. And for the pray-er unfa­mil­iar with con­tem­po­rary poet­ry, these poems can open the door in the oth­er direction.