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In his latest collection of poems, A Prayer of Six Wings, Owen Lewis works his way through successive stages of shock and mourning following the Hamas incursion into southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Starting from that date, the poems follow mostly in the order in which they were written, resulting in a contemporaneous unfolding from the late fall of 2023 to nearly the end of 2024. The individual poems begin by describing the brutality of that first day, the murder and the taking of hostages; from there, they dwell on the lingering grief and anxiety over the fate of the hostages, all in ways that feel personal to the poet. But the suffering of Gazans in the prolonged aftermath of October 7, and their ancient fraternal links to Israeli Jews, are not neglected. While the book begins and ends from a Jewish perspective, it is helpful to understand that the six-winged seraphim referenced in the collection's title are angels, whose love for and awe of God are suffused with humility.
Still, the recent publication of A Prayer of Six Wings, intended for a general readership amidst worldwide outrage over the agonizing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, required no small modicum of courage. These poems cover the yearlong period immediately following a deeply traumatic event, with most of the surviving October 7 hostages suffering in underground captivity. Under these circumstances, appreciating the humanity of one's proximate assailant is an evolutionary process.
Accordingly, the book's opening poem acknowledges the author's starting point in its title: “My Partisan Grief, SuperNova, October 7, 2023.” The rapturous musical celebration of that night ended in horror and devastation, in killing and abductions. The poem's last lines capture the moment: