To Make Myself a Word

About the Book

This small collection of poems was written in the course of a decade by an Episcopal priest approaching retirement. The inspiration for them came from the "metaphysical poetry" of the Seventeenth century English priest poets, Donne, Herbert, and Traherne. They were first used in his teaching and spiritual direction and continue to inspire readers. James Delmont, of the National Book Critics Circle, offers the follow description: Michael Tan Creti’s To Make Myself a Word is a marvelous collection of free verse poems and poetic prose reflections that provide a running commentary on life, faith and history – history that is both collective and personal. From the point of view of a pastor in the American Episcopal Church, the author muses, with irony and sensitivity, on ethics, memories, relationships, expectations, disappointments and the daily search for God in our lives. There is a skein of faith stubbornly running through these often exquisitely crafted word portraits that reward the reader with wisdom, continuing questions and even some answers. It is well worth reading – and not all at once.” Recently the text one of the poems, "The Father's Face," has been set as a cappella anthem by the composer Michael McCabe and is available from Parachlete Press, under the title "Seek God Face."

About the Author

Michael J. Tan Creti was born in 1940 and raised in western Iowa. In 1967 he was married to Jane F. Warnecke and was ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. The former yielded three children and a profound partnership in life and ministry. The latter began forty years of pastoral ministry serving seven different congregation in rural Iowa, upstate New York and Omaha, Nebraska. Twenty-nine of the years were spent in the urban congregation of All Saints Omaha. There he served first as an assistant and than as rector. Like many pastors, he wrote thousands of pages by way sermons, newsletters, retreats and lessons that were never quite complete and which disappear into the memories of congregants. The poetry happened along the way as a kind of sidebar. In them the thoughts and emotions that sustained him found an expression. Michael’s poetry is "metaphysical" drawing from the Seventh Century English priest poets, Donne, Herbert, and Traherne. At the same time, Michael is a convinced romantic searching for the unity between such polarities as thought and experience, spirit and earth, and orthodox faith and a freely inquiring mind which courts the light of human reason. Michael is presently retired living in Omaha, Nebraska.