Pushing the Boat Out

A collection of poetry having its origins in the Iona Community's magazine, Coracle.

Contributors include: Ruth Burgess, Ron Ferguson, Yvonne Morland, Kathy Galloway, Jan Sutch Pickard, Ruth Harvey, Robert Davidson, David Osborne and others.

Kathy Galloway writes in the Introduction:
'The themes which emerge in these particular poems are familiar ones. From most of the writers there is a strong sense of geography, whether that be well-loved or well-remarked places, or the equally interesting interior spaces that we seek out markers for. Not surprisingly, in a book published by the Iona Community, several poems are about Iona, and others are about Camas – the Iona Community's adventure centre located in a remote fishing station on the island of Mull. There are poems about people, including two written about George MacLeod – the founder of the Iona Community. Many of the poems reflect the struggle to find a language that expresses a contemporary Christianity, a gospel and faith incarnated in everyday life, engaged, as the Iona Community is, with a desire for and commitment to justice, peace and the integrity of creation.'



‘Poetry can speak to the intellect, the heart or the spirit. This is a rare anthology in that it speaks to all three.’
Kay Carmichael

128 pp