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
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.
Keridan’s poetry testifies to the pain of love and loss—and to the possibility of healing in the aftermath.
The literary critic Geoffrey Hartman once wrote that literature—and poetry, in particular—can help us “read the wound” of trauma. That is, it can allow one to express and explain one’s deepest hurts when everyday language fails. Keridan appears to have a similar understanding of poetry. She writes in “Foreword,” the opening work of her debut collection, that “pain frequently uses words as an escape route / (oh, how I know).” Many words—and a great deal of pain—escape in this volume, but the result is healing: “the ending is happy / the beginning was horrific / so let’s start there.” The book, then, tracks the process of recovery in the wake of suffering, and often, this suffering is brought on by romantic relationships gone wrong. An early untitled poem opens, “I die a little / taking pieces of me to feed the fire / that keeps him warm / you don’t notice that it’s a slow death / when you’re disappearing little by little.” The author’s imagery here—of the self fueling the dying fire of love—is simultaneously subtle and wrenching. But the poem’s message, amplified elsewhere in the book, is clear: We go wrong if we destructively give ourselves over to others, and healing comes only when we turn our energies back to our own good. Later poems, therefore, reveal that self-definition often equals strength. The process is painful but salutary; when “you’re left unprotected / surrounded by chaos with nothing you / can depend on / except yourself / and that’s when you gather the pieces / of the life you lost / and use them to build the life you want.” The “life you want” is an elusive goal, and the author knows that the path to self-definition is fraught with peril—but her collection may give strength to those who walk it.
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-72770-538-6
Page Count: 196
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Downbeat but often engaging poems and stories.
A slim volume of largely gay-themed writings with pessimistic overtones.
Poe (Simple Simon, 2013, etc.) divides this collection of six short stories and 34 poems into five sections: “Art,” “Death,” “Relationship,” “Being,” and “Reflection.” Significantly, a figurative death at the age of 7 appears in two different poems, in which the author uses the phrase “a pretended life” to refer to the idea of hiding one’s true nature and performing socially enforced gender roles. This is a well-worn trope, but it will be powerful and resonant for many who have struggled with a stigmatized identity. In a similar vein, “Imaginary Tom” presents the remnants of a faded relationship: “Now we are imaginary friends, different in each other’s thoughts, / I the burden you seek to discard, / you the lover I created from the mist of longing.” Once in a while, short story passages practically leap off of the page, such as this evocative description of a seedy establishment in Lincoln, Nebraska: “It was a dimly lit bar that smelled of rodent piss, with barstools that danced on uneven legs and made the patrons wonder if they were drunker than they thought.” In “Valéry’s Ride,” Poe examines the familial duties that often fall to unmarried and childless people, keeping them from forming meaningful bonds with others. In this story, after the double whammy of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hits Louisiana, Valéry’s extended family needs him more than ever; readers will likely root for the gay protagonist as he makes the difficult decision to strike out on his own. Not all of Poe’s main characters are gay; the heterosexual title character in “Mrs. Calumet’s Workspace,” for instance, pursues employment in order to escape the confines of her home and a passionless marriage. Working as a bookkeeper, she attempts to carve out a space for herself, symbolized by changes in her work area. Still, this story echoes the recurring theme of lives unlived due to forces often beyond one’s control.
Downbeat but often engaging poems and stories.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5168-3693-2
Page Count: 120
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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