An Angel of the First Degree

“These love poems from a husband to and about his wife are centered in a combination of ordinary and everyday things and experiences, and their lives and marriage as testimonies to God’s grace. . . . They are a moving testimony to a life partner without whom, as Zoller says, ‘I travel badly alone.’ His is an excellent free verse written with a measured precision and finely tuned ear, a pleasure to read.”


—David Black, poet and wedding officiant





“In these wise, radiant poems James Zoller proves his delight in the joys and challenges of love and language (the two are one). These poems like marriage are acts of consummate imagination revealing themselves not chronologically but in layers of complexity in which all time is one grace-filled moment. Beginnings withhold themselves only to be realized in the silences of endings. Endings are realized in the wordless wonder of beginnings. Every line rings true.”


—John Leax, author of Recluse Freedom and Remembering Jesus





“While maintaining intimacy between poet, subject, and reader, An Angel of the First Degree offers a fresh look at romantic love. With the pulse of organic rhythm Zoller’s decorous forms inhabit the theme in ‘innerworldly rhyme.’”


—James Wardwell, Professor Emeritus of Literature, Houghton College