Parables, according to [theologian C. H.] Dodd, are "illustrations … designed to provoke thought rather than to close the question." Many of Josephine Miles's New and Selected Poems would fit Dodd's description very well. The didactic freshness of her poems makes them a complex pleasure, because, for her, pleasure itself is complex…. Her work may begin with an appearance as diminished or domestic as the doily, upholstery or curtains, but it ends as much more than a remark or perception, but rather as a little sermon without a pulpit. Her demotic phrases may be daunting, but her poetry is concerned with the value of fact and the fact of value. It is a rich collection and capable of a Dantesque fierceness. (pp. 230-31)

Josephine Miles's poetry is generous and full. Abundant and not merely copious, it reminds us that the domestic scene is as rich as any wilderness…. Laurence...