Callings Book

I like when collections of poetry come together in some interesting way. In Callings, Carl Dennis, the author of Pulitzer Prize Winning Practical Gods, writes poems about callings in all the senses of that word. Sometimes it relates to career choices, other times, to a reticent and reluctant prophet. To be honest, the first ten or so poems in this collection didn't wow me. I greatly enjoyed Practical Gods, so I am familiar with Dennis's aesthetic; those initial poems just lack the surprising word choices and possibilities for discovery that one hopes for in poetry. Beginning with "Drugstore" however, rings really pick up. In that poem, Dennis imagines a future husband and wife meeting in the cold and flu aisle of a drugstore, selecting anti-histamines. Dennis urges their offspring, "Don't be ashamed that your parents didn't happen to meet at an art exhibit." This is humorous but also speaks leads to one of Dennis's most profound insights. "Drugstore" ends with an exhortation to resist romanticising the exotic possibilities of place. He reminds us in a non-trite way, that wherever you go, there you are, as long as you make a commitment to actually being there: "You're still thinking of moving on,/Of finding a town with a climate/Friendlier to your many talents./Don't be ashamed of the homely thought/That whatever you might do elsewhere/In the time remaining you might do here/If you can resolve, at last, to pay attention." That "at last" is a big one. It spoke deeply to my own personal history in sometimes allowing myself to believe that a change of venue or career might be all I'd need to be fulfilled or whole. But here, Dennis reminds us that what we are called to do, we can do exactly where we are, exactly as we are, as long as we learn to listen carefully to the callings.