Songs from an empty cageneta

In accessible lyrical prose Jeff Gundy takes on poetry peace heresy martyr stories music metaphor and in this sequel to his award winning Walker in the Fog On Mennonite Writing Is there a tradition that is at once rebellious deeply communal wildly individual and truly peaceable If we recognize and create it Gundy insists the answer is yes Donald Revell Author Pennyweight Windows New and Selected Poems says that Time was that American writing was intent upon entirety Language was pilgrimage and cadence kept the rhythms of a motive faith It was a time of outrageous piety whose upper register is poetry and joyful critique whose upper register is poetry the time of Thoreau s Week and Whitman s Specimen Days and Henry Miller s Air Conditioned Nightmare I am pleased to say that in Gundy s Songs that time is now Jean Janzen Author Entering the Wild Essays on Faith and Writing and many poetry volumes affirms that With his lively prose and inquiring spirit Gundy woos us into his poetic exploration of theology a fertile journey through the complications of belief desire and mystery which leads to an open table of love generosity beauty and hope This book feeds the soul As Gregory Wolfe Editor Image observes Yeats once said We make out of the quarrel with others rhetoric but of the quarrel with ourselves poetry Gundy s rich evocative book shows how Mennonite writers have made poetry out of their lover s quarrel with the Anabaptist tradition In his graceful exposition we see how tradition and transgression are intertwined in one generative ongoing story And Scott Holland in the Foreword reports that Reading Gundy s Songs I smiled in delight and satisfaction at a writer whose deep soul is simultaneously Romantic Anabaptist and Transcendental Songs from an Empty Cage Poetry Mystery Anabaptism and Peace C Henry Smith This one is a must read for anyone from the Anabaptist tradition who is interested in the arts So well written packed with information Paperback