Poems Written in a Time of Plague
Further Reflections on Scripture
- Arts & Literature
- Publisher: Resource Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2020
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Publisher's Description
Plague is both metaphor and physical presence. The poems in this volume, written between January and June of 2020, address the plagues of COVID-19; racism, police brutality; and political indifference, ineptness, and malfeasance. The poems offer the hope that the first plague has taught us about the good fruits of compassion and community and that the continuing nonviolent protests in the United States over the second plague, racism, will help birth a resurrection in the hearts, minds, and souls of all Americans, a new Easter. The twentieth-century theologian Karl Barth astutely said, "The pastor and his congregation should not imagine that they are a religious society that is fixated [only] on certain themes, but that they live in this world. We do indeed need, according to my old formulation, the Bible and the newspaper." With the poems in this volume, the author, newspaper in hand, reflects on events from January to early June 2020 and does so by integrating reflections on Scripture with current events.
Endorsements (4)
“Poems have always been a reliable means of transportation. The poetry in this book carries us to our humanity and our sparkling souls. Tim Vivian not only provides a vehicle but reminds us all of our destination. We find our truest selves in these piercing, heartening words.”
“Poet, priest, and scholar, Tim Vivian responds to a modern crisis with ancient wisdom. As a biblical scholar and student of monastic spirituality, Vivian writes with the combined voice of a modern American prophet and an ancient Egyptian theologian. The poems lament our sin, ponder the cross, and exult in the resurrection. . . . Vivian writes with grace about tears, tears that arise from our human realities and tears that celebrate our gladness and joy.”
“Tim Vivian’s poetry is brilliant and challenging, erudite yet earthy, truth’s light refracted. Each poem is a puzzle, a double-facing mirror reflecting simultaneously down history’s corridors in opposite directions, the gospel past and our plague-filled present. These harrowing poems speak of rage and grief, judgement and mercy. They know the ‘color of tears.’ Vivian’s voice serves as prophetic witness against our amoral government and our distressing time.”
“These powerful, prophetic poems descend into the darkness of our physical, social, and spiritual plagues, then with the Holy Dove rise again in divine hope, love, and the peace that comes when suffering has been transformed and the heart has been renewed.”
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