Among angels

by Nancy Willard

Angels from the Hebrew and Christian traditions crowd the pages of this collection from Nancy Willard and Jane Yolen, poets who have chosen to wrestle with angels. The poems, written back and forth to each other over a period of several years, reveal close acquaintance with wild-winged souls like Lucifer, who fell, "Feathers like fingers / Clutching the air," and Gabriel, returning from the Annunciation; with the angel who visited Jacob Boehme, asking for shoes; and with the nameless cherubs at the manger. Angels in winter, in summer; angels with Aunt Fanny and among the servants; and...