Only Words

Canadian-British poet Paul Sutherland collects his finest poetry into one volume, taking the reader through a mystical journey across major world religions and the universal power of nature.

Sutherland’s Holy Week Sequence and Poems on the Life of the Prophet Muhammad take the reader intimately into the lives of the founders of two of the world’s largest religious traditions, from Sutherland’s first-hand perspective as someone navigating those faiths during a religious and spiritual journey. Seven Earth Odes takes the reader to our shared planet and nature, beyond specific traditions and cultures. The collection is crowned a selection of previously unpublished mystical poems and writings, which invite the reader to explore the world, including reflections on the British Isles, Sufi shrines, cathedrals, airports, and long country walks.

Running across all these poems is a sensitivity to the infinite that lies beyond poetry, and beyond words. Sutherland moves through and with the infinite, finding within everyday places and words the power to transform our lives.

Praise for Paul Sutherland

“We need more poets like Sutherland, who speak to and not at us, sharing the universal experiences of family and life experience in such a colloquial, generous, and personal way that ensures poetry revalidates itself as the trusted capturer we turn to at key times of life. Sutherland is this poet and so much more. He is nomadic, experimental, straight talking, brave yet fragile and effortlessly mysterious that make the pages turn slow as he makes you reflect.”

- Anthony Owen, Here Comes Everyone Magazine

"Paul Sutherland's masterful ability to travel between the abstract, almost philosophical layers of thinking and the very concrete, earth-like reminiscences, is something any reader will find fascinating."

- Mario Susko