A lucid, poetic explication of the verses in Romans.
A debut work of theology offers a poetic commentary to Paul’s most famous epistle.
Paul’s letter to the Romans is the longest and perhaps the most important of the so-called Pauline epistles. It’s also one of the ones generally considered to have actually been written by the apostle himself. Composed while Paul was in Greece and directed to the growing Christian community in Rome, the epistle lays out the doctrine of the new faith based on salvation through Jesus. “One word is descriptive / of this tome,” writes Yapuncich in his introduction. “RIGHTEOUSNESS / Righteousness is God’s / own perfection / In every attribute / In every attitude / In every behavior / In every word / A righteousness based not / on our own efforts / But on what God has done / for us in sending his Son.” The piece is a notably complex and difficult work, with many passages that are open to interpretation. Luckily for readers, the author is here to analyze them. Taking the epistle verse by verse (and there are over 400 of them), Yapuncich provides his own poetic explanations for Paul’s prose sentences. Each chapter is at first presented in full without commentary so readers can grasp the complete context. Then each verse is repeated individually, followed by about one page of the author’s lineated notes. Yapuncich’s free verse has a rhythm that should remind readers a bit of slam poetry, and he manages to achieve moments of real lyricism: “They suck up sin / Welter in wickedness / Profess to be wise / Sit at feet of professors / Other learned men / Whose breath is spiritual poison / Idolize hog-sty doctrines / Counting themselves wise.” But often, the author’s need to express ideas in precise (and often bulky) theological language mostly robs the verses of a true semblance of poetry. Even so, Yapuncich manages to make his points with clarity as well as brevity, and readers should genuinely have a greater grasp of the material after perusing his commentary. The format is admittedly strange, and the author is working from a conservative Protestant tradition of interpretation. But Bible students looking for an alternative to scholastic prose commentaries should appreciate Yapuncich’s poetic criticisms.
A lucid, poetic explication of the verses in Romans.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-973613-30-5
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An emotional, captivating Christian story in verse.
Heidish (A Misplaced Woman, 2016, etc.) presents an account of St. Francis of Assisi’s life, as told from his father’s perspective in poetic form.
St. Francis is known as a saint who believed in living the Gospel, gave sermons to birds, and tamed a wolf. Over the course of 84 poems, Heidish tells her own fictionalized version of the saint’s journey. In his youth, Francesco is an apprentice of his father, Pietro Bernardone, a fabric importer. The boy is a sensitive dreamer and nature lover who sees “natural holiness in every living thing.” As an adult, Francesco decides to pursue knighthood, but God warns him to “Go back, child / Serve the master.” He joins the Church of San Damiano, steals his father’s storeroom stock, and sells it to rebuild the church. His furious father chains him in the cellar, and the bishop orders Francesco to repay the debt. Afterward, father and son stop speaking to each other; Francesco becomes a healer of the sick and a proficient preacher. After failing to broker a peace agreement during wartime, Francesco falls into depression and resigns his church position. He retreats to the mountains and eventually dies; it’s only then that Pietro becomes a true follower of St. Francis: “You are the father now and I the son / learning still what it means to be a saint,” he says. Heidish’s decision to tell this story from Pietro’s perspective is what makes this oft-told legend seem fresh again. She uses superb similes and metaphors; for example, at different points, she writes that St. Francis had eyes like “lit wicks” and a spirit that “shone like a clean copper pot.” In another instance, she describes the Church of San Damiano as a place in which “walls crumbled / like stale dry bread.” Following the poems, the author also offers a thorough and engaging historical summary of the real life of St. Francis, which only adds further context and depth to the tale.
An emotional, captivating Christian story in verse.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9905262-1-6
Page Count: 146
Publisher: Dolan & Associates
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A poignant collection by a talented poet still in search of one defining voice.
A debut volume of poetry explores love and war.
Divided into four sections, Osaki’s book covers vast emotional territories. Section 1, entitled “Walking Back the Cat,” is a reflection on youthful relationships both familial and romantic. “Dying Arts,” the second part, is an examination of war and its brutal consequences. But sections three and four, named “Tradecraft” and “Best Evidence” respectively, do not appear to group poems by theme. The collection opens with “My Father Holding Squash,” one of Osaki’s strongest poems. It introduces the poet’s preoccupation with ephemera—particularly old photographs and letters. Here he describes a photo that is “several years old” of his father in his garden. Osaki muses that an invisible caption reads: “Look at this, you poetry-writing / jackass. Not everything I raise is useless!” The squash is described as “bearable fruit,” wryly hinting that the poet son is considered somewhat less bearable in his father’s eyes. Again, in the poem “Photograph,” Osaki is at his best, sensuously describing a shot of a young woman and the fleeting nature of that moment spent with her: “I know only that I was with her / in a room years ago, and that the sun filtering / into that room faded instantly upon striking the floor.” Wistful nostalgia gives way to violence in “Dying Arts.” Poems such as “Preserve” present a battleground dystopia: “Upturned graves and craters / to swim in when it rains. / Small children shake skulls / like rattles, while older ones carve rifles / out of bone.” Meanwhile, “Silver Star” considers the act of escorting the coffin of a dead soldier home, and “Gun Song” ruminates on owning a weapon to protect against home invasion. The language is more jagged here but powerfully unsettling nonetheless. The collection boasts a range of promising poetic voices, but they do not speak to one another, a common pitfall found in debuts. “Walking Back the Cat” is outstanding in its refined attention to detail; the sections following it read as though they have been produced by two or more other poets. Nevertheless, this is thoughtful, timely writing that demands further attention.
A poignant collection by a talented poet still in search of one defining voice.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-984198-32-7
Page Count: 66
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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