Proxima Nov
Dear ones,
First, this is a place on the earth and I live here. I just wanted to point that out.
Then, let's see, I went to Boston for Lilly and saw my good friends Jake Armerding and Jason Crawford and many many fit people besides, since the Boston Marathon was that weekend, and I cemented meanwhile a full-blown fear of flying. Being in that can was peak misery for me and it's worse each time I try it. I've yet to reconcile, or even to confront, what this phobia will do to my plans for poetry reading world domination tours, but I covet your input.
The sky, meanwhile, has been hectic and changeful, and little golden leaves are hanging on all over in some vain protest against the coming cold, which is heartening, if a bit dramatic.
Finally, my Faith and Literature class wrapped up, which was a joy to teach as it ever is: we added this year Esau McCaullie's Reading While Black and the new First Nations New Testament, with its lovely phrasing destabilizing long-known passages such as this from Matt 4:17
From that time forward Creator Sets Free (Jesus) began to speak out, “Creator’s good road from above is close. It is time to change your thinking and begin your great journey.
Publications
I made an essay for The Chronicle of Higher Education about retention strategies for struggling students, which, these days, seems to be most of them. You can only read this is you are on a college campus, I'm pretty sure, but if you know someone who teaches at one, send the link along.
Let's call this next one a "new to you" publication. As part of my revamped website--which can I just say how much I love?--I have put up a pdf of this academic article on Crimean War poetry. I was contractually obligated to wait till two years after its first publication to share it and here we are so here it is! C'mon, you know you want to read an academic article about obscure Victorian war poetry; search your feelings, you know it's true.
And also, Christianity and Literature put out a Special Issue on The Future of Christianity and Literature in Higher Education. It's a treasure house feat Jessica Hooten Wilson, Karen Swallow Prior, Thomas Pfau, et al. that I highly recommend for any folks interested in righting this particular ship. They included my essay Changes and Chances, which you can read here.
A Deal 💵
You guys, this is crazy. The good people at Edinburgh University Press are taking pre-orders for Festus! And for the next week, it's HALF OFF! So instead of $120, the normal price, it's $60. And then ‼️ since we're all friends and family here, you can use my discount code they gave me: type NEW30 at checkout to receive 30% off that! This is a book for the ages, so don't feel shy about making demands of your librarians or festive families. But seriously hurry; deal is over next week.
Reading
Don Paterson’s The Poem is a bit heady, but really wonderful on poetry’s linguistic ground.
M Fujimura’s Art and Faith is a short and pretty book about being an artist.
E. Montale’s Collected Poems, a lodestar for me and one of the few poets I trust always to be good.
The Oxford Handbook of Christmas is weirdly entertaining—I’m thinking about writing something more about feasting.
A Holy Baptism of Blood is about theology and the American Civil War, but really well-written and illuminating.
And I’ve just started a brand new translation of Reynard the Fox, a trickster tale from the twelfth-century that’s so full of vigor.
Oh, and the children are loving the new edition of Little Pilgrim's Progress, which I read to them each night.
That's it for now. I've got more exciting news just cresting the horizon but I'll wait till it peaks its pretty, sun-struck head for me to introduce you. Questions? Comments? Life updates? Re: to this with various and sundry.