From the Other World: Poems in Memory of James Wright Book

Part of why I had a problem with this one was my own pre-conceived notion of what it should be--a set of poems for and against religious faith. I have never enjoyed a book, movie, comic, or anything after my idea of what it should be doesn't match up with what I get, even if the result is pretty good. It's why I try very hard not to expect anything before I read, view, or listen. It's not that I don't have general ideas, mind you--everyone does--but if I try to clear my mental palate of what I expect, I find that I'm often happy with the results, or, if I didn't care for the results, it's because the item in question failed on its own (lack of) merit.

Which is why I feel bad that this collection, in which the editor takes the terms "faith" and "doubt" and extrapolates them into a wider context than I wanted, just didn't work for me. I wanted one thing and got another. The blurb says that this collection "explores the many facets of faith and doubt" and that is very true. However, in her attempt to show that poets have argued the question of faith--in its most general term--for thousands of years, we get some very questionable inclusions.

For instance, 1 couplet of Shakespeare, taken out of context. Another poem, from Martial, though it mentions a lack of doubt, is really a sarcastic commentary on shallow friends in my opinion. And the inclusion of Rumi, again in very short snippets, feels out of place, without at least a note below their short entries explaining the context.

However, there are some real gems in here. There's one from the perspective of an abused girl whose faith in anything has been shattered. We also get stories of poets with faithful parents though the poet themselves can't seem to capture that same faith for themselves. Those are my favorites, probably because that's what I was looking for. For those of us who grew up Judeo-Christian (I can't speak for any other faiths, and so I won't, but I imagine it's similar for you) and now can't seem to square God and His rules with today's world, poems like "Echoes" by John Ciardi, hit home:

"I said what I was told
for my pleasure in who told it, for my need
to be held in the telling, apart from the true and false
...
Given a choice
between Dante and a stone over two graves,
what shall I read?"

I have a cross in my house because I know that's what Gram would want. I choose the Dante when I can, but all the time can't stop thinking it's just two graves. That's what I was looking for here, and perhaps it's selfish of me to expect an editor to find for me personally those poems that might allow me to think there are others in the world who are like me--desperate to get that faith back, but unable to grasp it because of all that religion means today (traditional "values", us versus them, unquestioning fealty to authority, etc.). I got that here in doses, but just not enough for me to feel satisfied as a reader.

Too many of the poems here are generalized, like "Doubt" by Sara Holbrook, which says that

"Insecure
is a lace
untied
that in a race
trips me inside.
...
It sure would be
a faster route,
if I could live
without a doubt."

Really? I'd never thought of that. All in all, though some of these poems really nail the line between faith and doubt, there are too many mediocre poems in here for me to recommend the set. (Library, 05/07)

Trebby's Take: I wish I could recommend this one, but I just have too many doubts.