These poems are centered around a walking pilgrimage I took in the spring of 2019. It took place in the spring rather than the summer to accommodate my traveling partner, Coleman Weimer. Coleman is a local filmmaker who became interested in my walking pilgrimages after hearing me read at Chapters Coffee & Books in Newberg, Oregon. He asked if he could document my next pilgrimage &, after some discernment, I agreed. Coleman proved to be a excellent traveling companion, entering into, body & spirit, the experience he was documenting. The result of this collaboration is the award winning, short documentary film Mount Angel Pilgrim.

A little over two months before Coleman & I went on pilgrimage, my mother passed away. Her passing prepared my soul for pilgrimage, just as my training regimen prepared my body. I have included the poems that I wrote around her passing in this volume. Without them the story of this pilgrimage would not be complete.

PRAISE
"Sherman's poems are meditative and always sojourning, if such a word can be used to describe poetry. The words and Sherman's distinct rhythmic delivery evoke something very monastic - that is, peaceful, open, disciplined, loving. One line of his comes to my mind most frequently as I tumble through this world, arriving at and leaving countless strange and wonderful spaces: Packing day -- the final uncertainty."
-Joel Martin
Songwriter, Joel Martin From Toledo

“A traveler’s soul expressing himself with all the details of life in an honest and heart felt phrase.”
-Joe Simon
Guitarist, Turbo Perfecto

“Instead of striking loudly, Sherman's poetry meanders with internal rhyme and playful meter through an array of lived-in experience that touches the fulcrum of cognition and faith.”
-Coleman Weimer
Award winning filmmaker, Mount Angel Pilgrim