My Bishop and Other Poems

Fiction & Literature, Poetry, American
Cover of the book My Bishop and Other Poems by Michael Collier, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Michael Collier ISBN: 9780226571058
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: February 8, 2019
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: Michael Collier
ISBN: 9780226571058
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: February 8, 2019
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

Think of a time when you’ve feigned courage to make a friend, feigned forgiveness to keep one, or feigned indifference to simply stay out of it. What does it mean for our intimacies to fail us when we need them most?

The poems of this collection explore such everyday dualities—how the human need for attachment is as much a source of pain as of vitality and how our longing for transcendence often leads to sinister complicities. The title poem tells the conflicted and devastating story of the poet’s friendship with the now-disgraced Bishop of Phoenix, Arizona, interweaving fragments of his parents’ funerals, which the Bishop concelebrated, with memories of his childhood spiritual leanings and how they were disrupted by a pedophilic priest the Bishop failed to protect him from.

This meditation on spiritual life, physical death, and betrayal is joined by an array of poised, short lyrics and expansive prose poems exploring how the terror and unpredictability of our era intrudes on our most intimate moments. Whether Michael Collier is writing about an airline disaster, Huey Newton’s trial, Thomas Jefferson’s bees, a piano in the woods, or his own fraught friendship with the disgraced Catholic Bishop, his syntactic verve, scrupulously observed detail, and flawless ear bring the felt—and sometimes frightening—dimensions of the mundane to life. Throughout, this collection pursues a quiet but ferocious need to get to the bottom of things.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Think of a time when you’ve feigned courage to make a friend, feigned forgiveness to keep one, or feigned indifference to simply stay out of it. What does it mean for our intimacies to fail us when we need them most?

The poems of this collection explore such everyday dualities—how the human need for attachment is as much a source of pain as of vitality and how our longing for transcendence often leads to sinister complicities. The title poem tells the conflicted and devastating story of the poet’s friendship with the now-disgraced Bishop of Phoenix, Arizona, interweaving fragments of his parents’ funerals, which the Bishop concelebrated, with memories of his childhood spiritual leanings and how they were disrupted by a pedophilic priest the Bishop failed to protect him from.

This meditation on spiritual life, physical death, and betrayal is joined by an array of poised, short lyrics and expansive prose poems exploring how the terror and unpredictability of our era intrudes on our most intimate moments. Whether Michael Collier is writing about an airline disaster, Huey Newton’s trial, Thomas Jefferson’s bees, a piano in the woods, or his own fraught friendship with the disgraced Catholic Bishop, his syntactic verve, scrupulously observed detail, and flawless ear bring the felt—and sometimes frightening—dimensions of the mundane to life. Throughout, this collection pursues a quiet but ferocious need to get to the bottom of things.

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book The Predicament of Blackness by Michael Collier
Cover of the book Making England Western by Michael Collier
Cover of the book High-Stakes Schooling by Michael Collier
Cover of the book Philosophy Between the Lines by Michael Collier
Cover of the book The Profit of the Earth by Michael Collier
Cover of the book Singing in the Age of Anxiety by Michael Collier
Cover of the book Gods and Demons, Priests and Scholars by Michael Collier
Cover of the book Against Translation by Michael Collier
Cover of the book The Racial Order by Michael Collier
Cover of the book Capital Culture by Michael Collier
Cover of the book The Supreme Court Review, 2013 by Michael Collier
Cover of the book African Successes, Volume II by Michael Collier
Cover of the book This Land Is Your Land by Michael Collier
Cover of the book Becoming a Marihuana User by Michael Collier
Cover of the book Planning the Home Front by Michael Collier
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy