A candle lit in the hollow of a wall by Peter Grandbois

The middle ages saw madness as blessed, a condition of increased spiritual insight. To see the unseen was divine. Reason alone could not approach mystery; therefore, the privileging of un-reason. “Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” (St. Augustine, Sermones, 4:1:1)

Under sutured stars,
the sheerest slip of seeing
keeps us in pieces.

Peter Grandbois is the author of seven previous books. His poems, stories, and essays have appeared in over eighty journals. His plays have been performed in St. Louis, Columbus, Los Angeles, and New York. He is a senior editor at Boulevard magazine and teaches at Denison University in Ohio.