Praise Nothing: Poems

NOTES

NOTES Passing Paradise A resort in Slobozia, Romania, boasts a near-replica of the ranch from the American primetime soap opera Dallas. The actor Larry Hagman played the main character J. R. Ewing for the series’s entire run. The film referenced is PaulThomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood. Theodicy Job :–: “Have you entered the warehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?” Washing in the Sangam The Triveni Sangam is the location where the Yamuna and Ganges Rivers meet the mythological Saraswati River near Allahabad, India. It is the site of Kumbh Mela, a massive Hindu pilgrimage that concludes with ritualistic bathing on the banks of these waters. Controlled Burn The poem responds to Edward Hopper’s  painting Office in a Small City. Of the Father The  film Knute Rockne,AllAmerican starred Ronald Reagan as George “The Gipper” Gipp. Less Than Ash The quote is from the hymn “Shall We Gather at the River?” written by Robert Lowry in .  When I Say Hymn The hymn “Amazing Grace” was written in  by English poet, clergyman , and abolitionist John Newton. Janis Joplin, nicknamed “Pearl,” performed the hymn in San Francisco, January , . Sparrow The quote is from the hymn “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” written by Civilla D. Martin in . There Is a Fountain The poem responds to the hymn by the same title written by English clergyman and poetWilliam Cowper in . A Question of Ear The quote is from Søren Kierkegaard’s Papers and Journals: A Selection (Penguin, ). Swing Low The poem alludes to the hymn “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”written by WallisWillis in . Doxology The specific doxology the poem responds to is “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow,” written by Thomas Ken in . It is perhaps the most widely sung hymn in the world. A Soul Petitions Entry J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson died with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens when Holly’s plane crashed February , . Waylon Jennings gave up his seat on the plane to Richardson, who had a cold.The famous George Jones song “White Lightning” was written byThe Big Bopper. In , The Big Bopper’s son, Jay, exhumed his father’s coffin and in  announced he would sell the coffin on eBay.  A Patterning of Fire, a Gathering of Ash The poem alludes to LooneyTunes characterWile E. Coyote.The poem also responds to lines from Larry Levis’s poem “Caravaggio: Swirl & Vortex,” which read, “You see, you must descend, it is one of the styles / Of Hell. And it takes a while to find the name you might be looking for; it is / Meant to take a while.”  ...