Fire in the Pasture: 21st Century Mormon Poets
. . . the bounty of [this] anthology reminded me of Christ’s generosity in feeding the five thousand. Christ took real substances—a little bread, two small fish—and he created from them . . . food that nourished the people and made it possible for them to return to their lives both physically and spiritually renewed. Poets take matter (language, emotion, thought, experience) and make of that matter a new creation, a work of art that did not exist before the poet organized it, a work that has the potential (each poet hopes) to nourish—to make readers see what they did not see before, to offer insight, to create empathy, to provoke thought, or to express beauty, soundness, depth. To offer abundance in place of scarcity.
–Susan Elizabeth Howe
Random Posts
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On Serrano’s Piss Christ and the Work of Mormon Poetics
23 November 2011 9:47 AM | No CommentsAnthology Poet Highlight 31/82: Tyler Chadwick, “Submerged: Two Variations on Serrano’s Piss Christ“ (on page 72) The central method of gaining knowledge we have is our language. I do not think it is the function of the poets to give...
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Language—and Beyond Language: Lisa Bickmore’s “Dog Aria”
09 November 2011 11:10 AM | No CommentsAnthology Poet Highlight 23/82: Lisa Bickmore, “Dog Aria” Lisa’s poem is about a dog. And not about a dog. On the surface the poet narrates her dachsund’s relationship with water and with song, showing the canine “baying adagio,” swimming “among...
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![(Cross-posted here.) In early June, Dayna Patterson launched a new poetry publication called Psaltery & Lyre. It’s housed under the auspices of Doves & Serpents, a group blog that, Dayna told me in an email interaction, “caters to [the] sort...](http://fireinthepasture.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Psaltery-Lyre-36x36.jpg "I Will Praise Thee with the <i>Psaltery & Lyre</i>")
I Will Praise Thee with the Psaltery & Lyre
12 July 2012 12:55 PM | 1 Comment(Cross-posted here.) In early June, Dayna Patterson launched a new poetry publication called Psaltery & Lyre. It’s housed under the auspices of Doves & Serpents, a group blog that, Dayna told me in an email interaction, “caters to [the] sort...
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Sampling Fire
06 March 2013 11:24 AM | 1 CommentGood news: Fire in the Pasture’s publisher, Peculiar Pages, recently released a sampler of poems from the anthology (formatted by the very capable Elizabeth Beeton of B10Mediaworx). It presents poetry from twenty of Fire’s poets, including a poem by the...
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Jonathon Penny’s “Confession, after battle”: A Soldier’s Litany
17 November 2011 5:48 PM | No CommentsAnthology Poet Highlight 29/82: Jonathon Penny, “Confession, after battle“ At first glance, “Confession” seems a simplistic poem: the poet repeats the same structure for four, essentially five, stanzas, changing only a word per stanzaic turn. The structure is thus something...
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Doug Talley Archive
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Mormon Poetry, Have You Met TED? The Case of Calvin Olsen
Posted on February 14, 2013 | No CommentsMaybe that should read, in the voice of Robert Pinsky, “TED, have you met Mormon Poetry?” Or more specifically, though still in Pinsky’s voice, “TED, have you met Calvin Olsen, American Poet?” But I’ll get to Pinsky and Calvin soon... -
Giving the Beauty of Holiness a Tongue (Part Two)
Posted on April 18, 2012 | No CommentsGiving the Beauty of Holiness a Tongue: A Review Essay on Adam’s Dream: Poems for a Latter Day by Doug Talley (Part Two) (Read Part One here) III. Adam’s Dream is divided into four sections: “Land within Arm’s Reach,” “Temples... -
Giving the Beauty of Holiness a Tongue (Part One)
Posted on April 17, 2012 | No CommentsGiving the Beauty of Holiness a Tongue: A Review Essay on Adam’s Dream: Poems for a Latter Day by Doug Talley (Part One)* I. During the fourth month of my wife’s first pregnancy, she started spotting. Startled by her yell... -
21st Century Mormon Lyricisms
Posted on April 10, 2012 | No CommentsI originally read this essay, in which I officially announced the publication of Fire in the Pasture, at the 2011 conference of the Association for Mormon Letters, held March 26, 2011. I read and commented on several poems in part... -
Doug Talley’s “Finding Place”: Consider. Simply Consider.
Posted on October 17, 2011 | No CommentsAnthology Poet Highlight 1/82: Doug Talley, “Finding Place” (My reading of “Finding Place”) From my preface to Fire in the Pasture: Doug Talley’s poem, “Finding Place,” . . . speaks to the intersection of religious, spiritual, and moral experience with...
