Susceptible to Light

Book excerpt: Susceptible to Light, by Chelan Harkin, is a collection of inspired poetry that is mystical and ecstatic in nature--mystical defined as anything having to do with opening the heart to light and ecstatic having to do with anything expressed from this place. Susceptible to Light is here to remind you of your joy, to assist you in reconsidering ways of relating to your life that better serve to open your heart, to deconstruct anything about God that doesn't feel close, intimate, authentic, and warm, and to remind your soul to break the surface and take a breath. Rumi says, "What was said to the rose that made it open was said to me here in my chest." May this collection help you feel a taste of that sweet openness. Hafiz says, "God and I have become like two giant fat people living in a tiny boat. We keep bumping into each other and laughing." May this collection help you feel the possibility of that kind of laughter. Eric Weiner, NY Times Bestselling Author of "The Geography of Bliss" says of Chelan's work: "These pages bear witness to a beautifully reckless and vulnerable love. Susceptible to Light shares the ineffable, all-consuming love of a Rumi or Hafiz, but situated in the here-and-now, amidst our dirty dishes and carpools. Do yourself a favor and savor these poems. Make yourself susceptible to their light." Alfred K. LaMotte, author of 'Wounded Bud' says of Chelan's work: "So much of today's 'spiritual poetry' is not poetry at all, but pedagogy, full of do's and don'ts. Chelan is a true spiritual poet because hers is not the voice of instruction but the voice of holy bewilderment. If she teaches us, she teaches us to dance. She teaches us the taste of what comes out of the grape when it gets crushed. All your tears will find sisters in her poems, and all your laughter will find a home in her belly. Her poems take us to the deepest, darkest loam, where lightning goes."