In one way or another, the poetry collections discussed here grapple with, revel in or simply bear witness to that which all great art wrestles with: What is going on, and (explicitly or not) what does God have to do with what is going on? Eleven different collections reviewed by four
America editors are a sample of the God-haunted and the God-hunted literary artists who work out their spiritual, intellectual and emotional conundrums through lyrical compositions that both reveal and obscure, offer insight and challenge commonplaces.
Pilgrimages
, by Andrew J. Calis
Each of the five parts of this debut book tackles a different sort of pilgrimage, and each becomes more specific and more granular as it goes on. The first section begins with the highest of highs, speaking abstractly of God and the universe, combining scientific terminology with biblical imagery. Subsequent parts tackle the author’s family history and well-worn memories of self, taking the reader everywhere from Jerusalem to Washington, D.C.