The Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living: Selected Poems by Leslie Anne Bustard

The Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living is Leslie Anne Bustard’s first poetry book. It is a collection of around eighty poems in various forms—free verse, tanka, and ekphrasis. These poems were written from October 2020-October 2023, while the author was dealing with the reality of cancer and the hard side effects of fighting it. Artist Ross Wilson says, "These poems exalt the wonders of the everyday, wonders we so often neglect. They bring inward and outward illumination to our eyes and to our hearts, encouraging us to hope, love, feel, to reach out again, and again."

Foreword by Hannah Anderson.

These are poems that are ardently porous to the wonders of the world, insistent on its plain poetic beauty, unafraid of its mystery. The art of the poems is their appearance of unworked candour
(in itself a hard-wrought skill), a transparency of heart, and an unwavering belief in the transcendent that lingers in this imminent realm. Beautiful, hopeful, honest, true to the grain of grace—this is a book to open the heart and the eye, giving us back marvel and joy in the land of the living.
—Andrew Roycroft, pastor/poet and author of 33: Reflections on the Gospel of John

Leslie Bustard’s new poems are the stuff of a visionary reality, penetrating beyond life’s surfaces in the most generous way, expectant, full of the juice of a life of active reflection. She sees a scar as a sign of hope—grace celebrated in the midst of anguish. These poems illustrate so well how a poet penetrates beyond such surfaces (though even those surfaces have significance), opening up thoughtful responses to ordinary events, and finding ways to celebrate these “ordinaries” that are far from ordinary.
— Luci Shaw, poet and author of The O in Hope: A Poem of Wonder

Leslie Bustard is a miracle. In the throes of a grueling battle with cancer, when many of us might be tempted to turn inward or sullen, she has turned outward, grown brighter and effervesced reams of poetry. She evokes E.E. Cummings’ “i thank you God for most this amazing,” in which the speaker, after encountering the beauty of creation, concludes, “(now the ears of my ears awake and / now the eyes of my eyes are opened).” For Bustard, tangible news of her mortality opens her eyes, inspires close inspection of trees, flowers, birds of all types, skies of all hues, and the people in her life that mean so much to her. In these poems there is not a moment of anger, nor even a suggestion of bitterness. Dealing with cancer has brought the moments of her life suddenly, shimmeringly to life—her memories of beauty, too, have become beacons of hope: It seemed all the mysteries of the world / floated on the trill of katydids. Though she also devotes quite a bit of energy to looking at paintings and engaging other authors, Bustard’s own words are the starry night we didn’t expect. She joins Sarah who, she writes, was barren no more and all / her sadness had come untrue. Constant joy. May we all aspire to this condition, in rich communion with God and all the Saints, fully healed in the grace of Jesus.
—Aaron Belz, author of four poetry collections including Soft Launch (Persea, 2019).

This was a limited edition book and is now unavailable. Many of the poems from this collection are part of a new collection of Leslie’s writings, Tiny Thoughts I’ve Been Thinking, coming in 2024.

Use the discount code "SQHALO" and receive 20% off this and any other Square Halo title that you order through Hearts & Minds Books. You could also order it through Landmark Booksellers or Eighth Day Books. All three of these stores carry all of our books and will give you a 10% discount on any purchases over $5 if you use the discount code SQUARE HALO. Of course you can also purchase it through the Square Halo store or order it through your favorite bookstore.