Joy in the Morning alludes to Psalm 30:5: Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. These poems ultimately point to the inherent rewards of continuation and survival, as the Scripture suggests, while they also pun on the words morning/mourning to reveal ways in which joy can be found even amid suffering. The sure joy Claude Wilkinson offers readers is this: nature's delicate details and memory's refining power. Tender, astonishing depictions - of an iridescent beetle, a jazz funeral, rural poverty transformed by a mother's love - carry the theme in lyrical form. Joy in the Morning are poems of strong emotion and exquisite artistry.