The Crystal Hand: Poems, by Paul J. Pastor, PREORDER
*Preorders of The Crystal Hand will ship by December 1, 2026. If you wish to purchase other Wiseblood titles and have them arrive earlier, we ask that you place a separate order. Preorders of the hardcover edition will include an author signature.
**Signed copies are only available for orders shipping to U.S. addresses. For international orders, please use THIS FORM.
The Crystal Hand reveals a world of reverie and darkness, mystery and joy. Grounded both in the rugged landscape of the Pacific Northwest and in the rich geography of a land not found on any earthly maps, the poems of this collection wed an unforgettable depth of feeling with a mastery of poetic craft. Through Pastor’s keen eye for wild nature and instinct for illuminating the unseen, we journey through a flourishing of “vast images,” that range from the daunting to the jubilant, from the comforting to the ecstatically strange. All this is in service of a desperate, honest search for the ways in which we are held by a Presence whose love and attention are unfailing, even when hidden.
Featuring riveting original illustrations from acclaimed artist Michael Cook, this glittering new collection further establishes Pastor’s unique and invigorating contribution to contemporary American writing. It will entrance both new and established readers of poetry.
The poems in Paul Pastor’s new collection are dexterous in execution and crystalline in form. “How can I move?” asks one poem, even as the poet gives the answer through graceful, ever-deepening rhymes. Pastor may claim his soul “has forsaken being loud,” but the music here demands a hearing. Pastor, whatever his chosen superstructure, is always devoted to the art of the line; his poetic and religious seeking harmonize, working as one and becoming one. Grounded in the poet’s life and striving for something beyond it, The Crystal Hand delivers poetry “of earth, yet not of earth.”
—Amit Majmudar, author of Things My Grandmother Said
Paul Pastor’s The Crystal Hand brings him into the forefront of the growing number of American poets writing highly personal religious poetry in the tradition of Herbert and Hopkins. Nonetheless, this book is quintessentially American, even Emersonian in the sense that experiences with nature spur intense religious meditation. Pastor’s flashes of wit and whimsy also help to keep his readers coming back for more.
—A.M. Juster
Publication date: December 8, 2026
