An Experiment in Theological/Spiritual Poem Annotations
& poetry news!
For the past few years, I’ve regularly hosted opportunities on Zoom for people at my church to engage deeply with contemporary poetry. In particular, I uplift spiritual questions that might be underneath a poem. How does the poem intersect, if at all, with how we experience faith, prayer, or worship? Does the poem give a glimpse of the Sacred/Divine/Insert-Preferred-Terminology-Here? Does it have something to say (something to provoke us with) about how we think about God, ourselves, and the world?
I’ve gained a lot of practice in this particular way of close reading a poem by someone else. Today, though, I’m attempting to turn that same lens back on myself and my own work, asking: What enriching context or reflection can I provide that might help someone more deeply engage the poem, especially if poetry holds an intimidation factor?
There are unique considerations in doing this with my own work. After all, most poets want their pieces to be able to stand alone. The last thing I want is to overburden a reader with what feels like a singular, authoritative interpretation of a poem that consequently stifles their own agency and imagination.
So I’m going to classify this post as an experiment – one in which you, the reader, have my enthusiastic permission to toss out anything that hampers rather than deepens your own connection with the work. It also feels important to note that not everything I reflect on here was consciously on my mind as I wrote. The poem I chose was initially drafted back in my undergraduate years, so frankly I remember very little about writing it!
With all those caveats aside, let’s get into it! The poem below is from my 2022 chapbook Woman as Communion from the fabulous Game Over Books.
Now, a few theological/spiritual/what-have-you annotations:
1) “….but they were never innocuous either…”
This first stanza plays with an association between the Eucharist and danger. This link is present in Scripture itself. In 1st Corinthians, Paul warns, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the body eat and drink judgment against themselves. For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Corinthians 11:27-30 NRSV).
This idea of thoughtfully approaching the power of the Lord’s Supper has been emphasized to varying degrees throughout the history of the church, sometimes to the point of instilling fear. In our contemporary culture, many churches have focused instead on the Eucharist as God’s table of love and invitation. As a priest, I tend to view this shift as a net positive. Even so, anything that we think of as a possible connection with God cannot be totally tame or safe. There’s always the potential for transformation, including in ways that frighten us. So with God, so too with the titular woman of “Woman as Communion #1.”
Questions to think about: Have you ever been viewed as “innocuous”? Are there spiritual/religious practices in your life that you have begun to view as “innocuous”? What would it be like to have others recognize something dangerous within you? Is there any positive form of danger to be discovered/recognized in yourself or in God?
2) “…it is not wrong to want to offer yourself
the wrongness comes through those
who misinterpret offering…”
Self-giving is a central concept in the Christian faith, particularly Jesus’ self-giving on the cross. Followers of Jesus are instructed to model themselves after that sacrificial example. Jesus himself says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:12-13 NRSV). Though the centrality of this teaching has inspired many great acts of love, an unnuanced glorification of self-sacrifice has also been, at times, a stain on the Christian tradition, particularly as it’s been experienced by marginalized peoples who are often disproportionately asked to give of themselves. Particularly, I think about how many women have been taught to accept abuse because of the valorization of sacrifice. Theologically then, the poem evokes the struggle of preserving the idea of self-sacrifice while also making room for the honoring of, and love of, the self.
I have returned many times over the years to a quote about just this: “If it is a legitimate Christian aim to seek the happiness of the other, then it must also be legitimate to accept with gratitude the happiness that others seek to bring me…If the world were as God intended–if the Kingdom were fully realised–the bond between suffering and love would be broken, whereas that between happiness and love would remain” (“Feminism and Christian Ethics” by Linda Woodhead in Women’s Voices: Essays in Contemporary Feminist Theology).
Even if you’re not contending with Christian theology personally, relationships themselves can present complex dilemmas around the practice of offering oneself. In any loving relationship, we may feel a desire to give time, energy, and effort that contributes to the well-being and joy of the other. However, there’s a danger for women that one’s freely chosen acts of love will be interpreted as assent to unrealistic or damaging gendered expectations of how much one must give vs. receive. Because of the patriarchal dynamics that can play out within personal relationships, it is easy to feel that standing against those dynamics requires suppressing the softer or more giving parts of ourselves.
Questions to think about: Do you experience a desire to “offer yourself”? What does that look or feel like in your life? Has your self-offering ever been misinterpreted as permission to treat you poorly?
3) “…that Imago Dei runs underneath and even
in those curves…”
“Imago Dei” means “image of God.” In Genesis, it says: “So God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27 NRSV). Most contemporary interpreters and translators agree that both men and women are described as being created in God’s image, yet Christian theology has often stated the opposite, at least implicitly. One of the more overt articulations of this comes from the 2nd/3rd century theologian Tertullian, who wrote, directed at women, “And do you not know that you are (each) an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the devil’s gateway….You destroyed so easily God’s image, man” (to read more: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0402.htm).
At times, it feels like the church has agreed in theory that women are created in God’s image, but that in actuality, still is hesitant about seeing the Divine in anything perceived as too womanly; this includes aversion to women’s bodies, especially bodies that embrace or evoke sexuality, hence the distinction of “and even in those curves.”
Questions to think about: What does the idea of “in God’s image” mean to you? Has your experience of church, Christianity, etc., celebrated all people being made equally in God’s image? Are there parts of yourself in which you find it uncomfortable or difficult to identify God’s presence or which you think others struggle to identify God’s presence?
4) “…they could not contain you
or tame you…”
These lines hint at something expansive and uncontrollable. I cannot help but detect in this poem from so many years ago a core tenet of my theology: that God is in the business of empowering us. Rather than pushing us into smaller and smaller boxes (where we’re contained or tamed), God’s nurturing allows us to bloom bigger than we ever could’ve imagined. I’d like to think these assertions have Scriptural foundation. There are multiple Bible stories that might be picked as illustrations. For example, God finds Moses in the midst of his safe life and calls him into the work of leading the liberation of the Israelites. Moses initially demurs, saying, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent” (Exodus 4:10 NRSV), to which God replies. In response to being appointed a prophet, Jeremiah says, “Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy” (Jeremiah 1:6 NRSV), and God replies, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’…Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you” (Jeremiah 1:7-8 NRSV). Mary, mother of Jesus, calls herself lowly but also proclaims, in her Magnificat, that “he that is mighty hath magnified me” (as quoted in the Book of Common Prayer).
Questions to think about: What if we truly saw or experienced faith and religious spaces as means of becoming less tame and contained rather than as forces to tame us? What resources, narratives, exemplars, etc. are there in your religious or spiritual traditions and communities to grow towards a less tame, less contained self?
***
Poetry News:
*Since I last wrote, I had a new poem, “Ruth, on the Purity, or Impurity, of Attention,” with Vita Poetica Journal. I was excited to learn about Vita Poetica’s work in art and faith at the Festival of Faith and Writing I attended during my sabbatical! You can read it here: https://www.vitapoetica.org/summer-2024/ruth-on-the-purity-or-impurity-of-attention
They also shared an audio recording of the poem in podcast form if you’d like to hear me read the piece: https://www.vitapoetica.org/summer-2024/ruth-on-the-purity-or-impurity-of-attention
*Earlier this month, the lovely Fare Forward published a book review I wrote on Word Made Fresh: An Invitation to Poetry for the Church by Abram Van Engen. I was honored to be asked to give my perspective on a book connected to something I’m passionate about - bringing more poetry into the life of the church! Check the review out here to see if it might be a good read for you or someone you know: https://farefwd.com/index.php/2024/08/07/word-made-fresh/
*The Spring 2024 issue of Anglican Theological Review included a kind and thoughtful review of Jesus Merch: A Catalog in Poems by writer and Episcopal priest Rita Powell, who graciously is letting me excerpt some of it to share.
*As always, Jesus Merch: A Catalog in Poems, Woman as Communion, and Prayer Book for Contemporary Dating (a physical copy or online for free!) are all available for your reading pleasure! If you’ve read and enjoyed, reviewing on Goodreads, Amazon, etc. or sharing on social media is much appreciated!