The New Testament
A poetry collection that reworks biblical language to examine Black masculinity, desire, violence, and faith.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Copper Canyon Pr
- Published
- 2014-09-16
- Pages
- 73 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 14.99 x 0.76 x 22.61 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9781556594571
- ISBN-10
- 9781556594571
- Price
- 3084 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Literature & Fiction/Mythology & Folk Tales/Fairy Tales
Honored as a "Best Book of 2014" by Library Journal Honored as a "Standout Book of 2014" by American Poet magazine Winnner of the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry Paterson Award for Literary Excellence, 2015 NPR.org writes: “In his second collection, The New Testament, Brown treats disease and love and lust between men, with a gentle touch, returning again and again to the stories of the Bible, which confirm or dispute his vision of real life. 'Every last word is contagious,' he writes, awake to all the implications of that phrase. There is plenty of guilt—survivor&;s guilt, sinner&;s guilt—and ever-present death, but also the joy of survival and sin. And not everyone has the chutzpah to rewrite The Good Book.&;—NPR.org “Brown&;s is a necessary art in an era that has seen lingering racial conflict and growing acceptance of gays in America, as well as extreme intolerance and homophobia in many countries overseas. These poems work because while they emanate from an intimately personal place, social concerns loom as large as the barber in Bonnat&;s painting. To merge the private with the public so seamlessly is an enviable feat.&; — The Antioch Review "Erotic and grief-stricken, ministerial and playful, Brown offers his reader a journey unlike any other in contemporary poetry."— Rain Taxi "To read Jericho Brown's poems is to encounter devastating genius."—Claudia Rankine In the world of Jericho Brown's second book, disease runs through the body, violence runs through the neighborhood, memories run through the mind, trauma runs through generations. Almost eerily quiet in even the bluntest of poems, Brown gives us the ache of a throat that has yet to say the hardest thing—and the truth is coming on fast. Fairy Tale Say the shame I see inching like steam Along the streets will never seep Beneath the doors of this bedroom, And if it does, if we dare to breathe, Tell me that though the world ends us, Lover, it cannot end our love Of narrative. Don&;t you have a story For me?—like the one you tell With fingers over my lips to keep me From sighing when—before the queen Is kidnapped—the prince bows To the enemy, handing over the horn Of his favorite unicorn like those men Brought, bought, and whipped until They accepted their masters&; names. Jericho Brown worked as the speechwriter for the mayor of New Orleans before earning his PhD in creative writing and literature from the University of Houston. His first book, PLEASE (New Issues), won the American Book Award. He currently teaches at Emory University and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jericho Brown: Jericho Brown worked as the speechwriter for the Mayor of New Orleans before earning his PhD in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Houston. He also holds an MFA from the University of New Orleans and a BA from Dillard University. The recipient of the Whiting Writers Award and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, the Bread Loaf Writers&; Conference, and the Krakow Poetry Seminar in Poland, Brown is an Assistant Professor at Emory University. His first book, PLEASE (New Issues), won the American Book Award. He lives in Atlanta.
Reviews
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Intelligent and instantly meaningful!
This elegant tome of deeply felt and emotionally realized poems will be something I will long treasure and quote. I was moved and inspired.
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Disturbing and comforting
I know, disturbing and comforting don't seem to pair up well.... until you read and re-read this collection. The poetry presents an array of astounding insights into the human heart--even more close now than when it was written, before Covid-19. It's an amazing call to sort out what really matters from what is only passing.
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A Voice that matters if you're listening to your own!!!!
There are very few poets today, whose poetry quakes with such honest, unflinching truth and power. I was more than moved, more than challenged. I returned to people and places in me, with the grace and beauty only terror can invite. As Rilke and Jericho know and live, "Beauty is the beginning of Terror," and how grateful I am for poems that take me into the the swirl of it all, with no desire for rescue.
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When Reality Becomes the New Testament
The New Testament by Jericho Brown surprised me with its vivid starkness and unrelenting honesty. As I read Brown's poems, I felt visceral reactions from my head to my toes. I wanted to reach out and comfort the inhabitants of his poems at times and at others I felt tempted to give them a good shake. Brown's lyrical prose jumped off the page and created images that felt at once irreverent and holy. The New Testament certainly gives its own testimony to the life and culture that Brown knows and understands while offering readers a tiny glimpse into that world.
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A testament to Jericho Brown
Rarely does a collection of poems create such a tangible body that holds you, its captive audience, while you hold it! The New Testament is a disparate, desperate plea to people of this planet to find what makes us human and create our own salvation.