The Stream and the Sapphire: Selected Poems on Religious Themes

excellent condition, the poems are excellent and very engaging on Christian themes by a "slow to convert" poet -- she has many breath-taking angles on the mysteries of the faith

The need for simple groupings of poems into thematic clusters may be too convenient and decpetive of the complexities of the poems themselves. But with Levertov, as with others, there is such a compelling predeliction towards specific themes and subjects that to do so can be useful.Here we have her major religious poems in a separate volume, just as there has been a volume of her poems on nature and a deserved volume of her political poems (if one hasn't been published already). These poems do chart Levertov's progressive understanding and acceptance of Christianity, but at their best they do something else. Their focus is often on natural scenes which have a humbling effect. The level sought isn't always that of the often over-mystified religious ceremony, though there's plenty of mystery to the poems. In "The Avowel" this effect is achieved through analogy, the submissive posture of lying on one's back hearkening not only a religious submission but one which the speaker is reminded of by the natural world. "As swimmers dare/ to lie face to the sky/ and water bears them,/ as hawks rest upon air/ and air sustains them,/ so would I learn to attain/ freefall, and float/ into Creator Spirit's deep embrace,/ knowing no effort earns/ that all-surrounding grace."The "free-falling" that occurs is much like that effect of flight in George Herbert's concrete poem "Easter Wings," which takes the shape of a bird. Here the use of a center alignment (which is hard for me to approximate) gives the impression of both the "deep embrace" and the fall, each line arrising not from a speakerly margin but from a need more like song. Again, the groupings of these poems together is a faulty judgement of Levertov's range, yet considering her uncanny ability to mask her concerns in a seemingly banal tone through everyday language we should be thankful that these small volumes have been available as studies into one of the best American poets of the last half century.

This set of books frighten me. Both are powerful and wonderful and deserve your immediate and lasting attention. The poems are not new, they are a themed selection. Interestingly enough placed in seperate but equal volumes. The Stream and the Sapphire is a selection of poems that elucidate the growth of Denise as a Christian. And an exciting growth it is. My favorite of the moment are words I use as prayer: "How can I focus my flickering, perceive at the fountain's heart the sapphire I know is there?" The Life Around Us is subtitled "selected poems on nature". In "A Reward", we live a harried day with the narrator and watch with her as "the heron, unseen for weeks, came flying widewinged toward me." What is probably a marketing tool, a most wise one by the publisher, is what scares me about these two volumes. In theme, the power of God is told in lush detail in both volumes. The heron in the nature selection is the holy spirit of the religious selection, and in our natural state both can and will be the same. Those brief moments of recognition of something outside ourselves. So with these two volumes to recommend, why should I be trepiditious? The marketing folks know us so well, and as poets we cannot overcome the marketing department. "Christians" are right winged slobs that grow fat and salute the flag and make fools of themselves on TV. They have absolutely no regard for nature because they are Republicans bound and determined to destroy the rainforest. Friends of the natural world cannot be interested in true spiritual life because they worship nature, and are Democrats, and would not consider a Christian a person. A nature person is good and upright and has never done wrong, and therefore has no need of the "crutch" of Christianity. Crass? Yep. That's why I'm scared of these two books. Because it brings out the crass nature of our commercialized economy. Everything is cut and dry - a cookie cutter product determined and produced by a media that thrives on exacting stereotypes. I can hear the salesman now walking into the Christian bookstore pitching the blue book; and the same salesman waking into the New Age bookstore pitching the green book. I'm saddened and scared that it's come to this - even in poetry. It's been with us in every other aspect of life for so many years now that I guess it had to be inevitable. Truth is, most Christians live in a more calm life than the wild-eyed frothing at the mouth pentacostal, or the bomb-throwing fanatic at an abortion clinic. It may be surprising to those who only read newspapers and watch tv to find out that many Christians believe God commanded them to take care of the planet. And vice-versa. Not all nature lovers worship the earth as God. Not all folks who are concerned with the environment are anti-Christian. Surprisingly to the media-fed public is the fact that there are many people who love the outdoors who feel abortion is just as wrong as shooting a bald eagle or a snowy songed owl.