Tag Archives: language as communion

Clinton F. Larson on Poetic Craft: The Value of Making Excursions into Experience

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Karl Keller, poet, professor, and critic, once called Clinton F. Larson “the first Mormon poet” (ref). Rather, that’s what the editor of Dialogue says Keller argues in his review of Larson’s The Lord of Experience (see the reference link at the end of my first sentence). To be exact, though: Keller opens his review with this claim: “I think that… Read more »

Public Uses of Poetry: Two AML Proposals

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I submitted two proposals for this year’s AML Conference, both poetry-centered, of course. Here they are: Proposal 1: Live Poetry Anthology: Mormon Poets Read (Two full sessions) Based on the success of the two poetry reading panels I organized for last year’s AML Conference, I approached my poet friends to see if there was any interest in organizing more readings… Read more »

“This Guy Can Walk on Anything”: Dayna Patterson’s “Our Lord Jesus in Drag”

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Poet Highlight: Dayna Patterson, “Our Lord Jesus in Drag” In my sonnet “On Crucifixion by J. Kirk Richards,” I use the practice of cross-dressing as an analogue for Christ condescending from godhood to put on mortality: “When God cross-dresses in death,” I say, “does / the universe blush?” In her poem, “Our Lord Jesus in Drag,” Dayna also offers a… Read more »

Giving the Beauty of Holiness a Tongue (Part Two)

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Giving 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 Framed by Hand,” “Voices from Another Room,” and “Flowers of a Kiss.” Each section contains eighteen poems and is framed… Read more »

The Deep-throated Ache of Marilyn Bushman Carlton’s “Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major“

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Anthology Poet Highlight 5/82: Marilyn Bushman-Carlton, “Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major“ (Here’s a link to my reading of Marilyn’s poem.) Music, as poetry, has power to bind us through and with the body’s rhythms. Marilyn Bushman-Carlton provides a case in point with “Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major,” a fairly short poem that shows the… Read more »

Doug Talley’s “Finding Place”: Consider. Simply Consider.

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Anthology Poet Highlight 1/82: Doug Talley, “Finding Place” [soundcloud id=’41731292′ playerType=’Standard’ width=’55%’ color=’#003366′] (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 the aesthetic experience inherent in well-crafted poetry. Through metaphors we often use to describe and… Read more »