Poetry. The poems in BELL I WAKE TO create a sacred space honoring seasons, generations, the body, and every living creature the poet comes across. Patty Crane writes with the kind of attention Simone Weil says is close to prayer, and indeed under her gaze everything is blessedly alive with song and shimmer, present in its leafing out and its leaving. Her supple language can transform a white birch into a mouthful of sunrise and then to the flush on a young girl's cheek. My subject is surprise, the poet says, the kind of surprise that comes from precise seeing, vivid language and the sly humor of one who knows how quickly the ordinary can turn and amaze. This is a beautiful book, a crucial presence in our scattered world.