Saint Julian Press ~ Announces the Publication of Central to the Task
Poems by Lisa Rhoades
Saint Julian Press is pleased to announce the publication of Central to the Task, a new poetry collection by Lisa Rhoades, available on May 15, 2026, from Saint Julian Press.
In this deeply attentive and emotionally resonant collection, Rhoades guides readers through the intertwined landscapes of nature, memory, grief, and renewal. Her poems move between gardens, fields, city streets, and the interior terrain of the human heart, revealing how ordinary moments—birdsong, wildflowers, a walk by the water—can illuminate life’s most profound questions.
Rooted in careful observation and lyrical precision, Central to the Task explores how beauty persists alongside loss and how the smallest details of the natural world can reflect the deepest truths of human experience.
As one early reader observes, these poems remind us that attention itself is a sacred act.
Praise for Central to the Task
“Lisa Rhoades is a wise guide through the physical landscapes of gardens and fields, as well as the equally brambly terrain of the heart… Sometimes hands are meant to be empty, yet she also sees forsythia ‘unwinding the winter into an aura of yellow-throated stars.’ These are poems to savor.”
— Alison Stone, author of Informed and To See What Rises
“Reading Central to the Task is like listening to the birds still in their trees before dawn… Each poem is like a song reaching for and from grief, for and from solace… These poems are, quite simply, prayers.”
— Deanna Benjamin, co-editor of Narratives of Hope and Despair
“Caught in the heart from the very first line… Rhoades’s voice is soft yet unsparing of truths. The smallest element of the natural world becomes a microcosm of daily life that explodes into a universe—which turns out to be the human heart.”
— Michael Carman, author of The Not and You in Translation
“Throughout Central to the Task, Lisa Rhoades excels at the essential task of the poet—to pay close attention… discovering an organic and authentic holiness that feels as hard-won as it is greatly needed.”
— Jeanne Beaumont, author of Lessons with Scissors and Letters from Limbo
About the Book
The poems in Central to the Task invite readers into a world where the everyday becomes luminous. Rhoades’s work moves between free verse and formal structures—pantoums, linked sonnets, and meditative lyrics—while tracing the fragile balance between grief and grace.
A loved one’s illness, the quiet labor of gardens, the memory of childhood landscapes, and the unfolding of family life all appear here as part of a larger spiritual ecology. The natural world becomes both mirror and teacher, revealing how loss and beauty coexist.
At its heart, Central to the Task asks what it means to remain attentive in a wounded world—and how love continues its work quietly, in the margins of ordinary life.
About the Author
Lisa Rhoades holds an MFA in Writing from Columbia University and is the author of three poetry collections, including Strange Gravity, winner of the Bright Hill Press Poetry Award. Her second collection, The Long Grass, was published by Saint Julian Press in 2020.
Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, including Calyx, Nimrod, Rust and Moth, The Southern Review, and Tupelo Quarterly.
Her honors include a Poetry Fellowship at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, a residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Writer in Residence at SWIMM/The Betsy South Beach.
A native of the Midwest, she lives in New York City on Staten Island with her spouse and family.
Book Information
Title: Central to the Task
Author: Lisa Rhoades
Publisher: Saint Julian Press
Publication Year: 2026
ISBN: 978-1-955194-49-5
Cover art by Elli Tzalopoulou Barnstone
Cover design by Laura Smyth
Available now for Preorder on Barnes & Noble
About Saint Julian Press
Saint Julian Press publishes works of poetry, contemplative writing, and literary reflection that engage the deeper questions of human life, culture, and spiritual imagination. Based in Houston, the press is committed to bringing thoughtful, enduring voices to readers across the world.