Why Bother Resurrecting the Dead by Jane Springer, from Verse Daily.
I read this as a doctrinal poem, in the sense that the narrator seems to be laying out a credo. One that is not in favor of organized religion and perhaps, more specifically, not enamored of Christianity’s tenets – the concept of life after death, of Christ as savior etc. The title, S1 and S4 are the most evocative in this regard. My sense is that the narrator finds that kind of context stultifying and passé and is therefore advocating for a more spontaneous, less intellectualized experience of religion – possibly something New Agey?
The weakest stanza seems to me to be S5, particularly these lines:
the finite magic of a discourse,
already drawn
Not sure if its because they lack the grounding in the concrete seen in the other stanzas, or whether because the actual words “finite” and “discourse” and “already drawn” have zero sonic (although there is not much attention to sonics overall here), visual or conceptual appeal (to me, anyway). Am not sure this stanza is even necessary to the whole.
Very much enjoyed S7-9, particularly the ideas of the first place always moving on and the first word never being spoken.
just as the sparrow stays among the palmetto fronds
is a delightful line – sparrow, palmetto and fronds are lovely words and the overall image is very appealing. Strong ending, I thought.
Comments welcome, as usual.
