Each month I review a new book for ImageUpdate, which is put out by the fabulous people at IMAGE Journal. Here’s the latest. Making Meaning from the Past Social History: Poems by Bobby C. Rogers “We were there to visit the ruins, the shabby places my father had lived during the Depression,” writes Bobby C. Rogers in the title …
First of all—hi. Warmly. Because that’s how you’ve always greeted me—with love. Remember me? I’m Jen. You were a big brother or sister to me about a decade ago when I warily stepped into church—intrigued by Christ, frightened of Christians—and you shocked me with how kind you were and how closely you listened. That one …
Each month I review a new book for ImageUpdate. Here’s the latest. Poetry of Visions A Horse with Holes in It by Greg Alan Brownderville Biblical visions, for all their bewildering oddity—Ezekiel’s wheels, Isaiah’s live coal to the lips—can carry a realer-than-real-life quality. A cover tears away; everything sharpens. If you’re drawn to that cocktail of wonder …
I’ve started brewing poems lately, after a long time of not. A bit about this one: For many years, I’ve been drawn to a character named Mad Maudlin, who appears in 17th and 18th century Bedlamite ballads. She was the female counterpart to a “Mad Tom o’Bedlam” character, the catch-all term for asylum inmates released …
Possibly this song was written for people like my husband and me. If there’s an afterlife, I don’t know what it’s going to do with us. Rob: Even-keeled, generous, good-hearted agnostic. Me: Moody, half-the-time decent, often-skeptical, pretty left-of-center Christian. I’ve dragged him to Costa Rica and Greece and road-tripping and tent camping all around the country. …
I deliver a quirky little sermon from time to time, usually from the stage of a non-denominational church on Long Island. Although my relationship with religion (including this church) has become complicated the past few years, I still love creating these talks for people who, like me, are seeking to love better in this fractured …