| This particular “Invitatory,” from the collection’s title series, is an ekphrasis of Henry Ossawa Tanner’s painting, “The Annunciation:” a teenage girl wakes to a pillar of light at the foot of her bed—Tanner’s representation of the angel, Gabriel. The girl regards the pillar of light with trepidation, but we know the end of her story: she says yes. The poem expresses my hope that, everyday, we’ll ask ourselves, “What will my answer to the light be?” | 
