This little chapbook of poems was published in 2001 by my friend Andrew Milam’s press Seaweed Sideshow Circus. We still have a few copies left. Each book I sold had an individually hand-stamped woodcut of the moon over Cincinnati. Unfortunately the wood-stamp has been lost so the remaining copies won’t have an image of the actual ‘moon incident’ to which the title refers.

The poems were largely taken from my graduate thesis in poetry with a few newer additions. At the time I was reading the major mystics and studying liturgical prayers. Some of the poems are written from verses in the Book of Common Prayer.

about the author

This book started out as a meditation on St. Francis, and quickly evolved to a series of essays about “calling” and the spiritual life. Many Christians struggle with funky ascetic ideals about what it means to be truly spiritual, and often these ideals are tinged with sacrificial martyrdom that stuffs down our deepest desires. This book is about desire and living a life that expects abundance in every area.

It is truly a little book, only four inches wide. We decided to treat it like its subject, with abundance. From design to printing, much love went into this book to make it one of a kind.

Our friend Linnea Spransy’s illustration graces the dustjacket cover, which folds apart to produce a larger, limited-edition poster of her painting. Kim Garza’s elegant design recently won the prestigious annual 50 Books/50 Covers award from AIGA, and as a part of this award the cover will go on display at a rotating gallery show in major cities. (Read more about last year’s award!) This is very exciting for both Kim and our press as very few small presses are represented in this annual award.

The book was letterpressed by Gary Mordhorst at Accucolor in Chicago and stitch bound by specialty bookmakers Grimm Bindery in Madison.