Vexed
Ebook
When asked how to pray, Jesus advises his listeners to be brief, unlike those who "think that they will be heard because of their many words" (Matt 7:8). This statement, like many others in scriptures, raises questions. How many words are too many, and how else besides words to ponder Holy Writ? In these poems, Elizabeth Poreba seeks to keep Jesus' advice in mind while examining her life as a convert from a Puritan-infused Congregationalism to Roman Catholicism.
"Where else would you find a poem connecting the bombing of
Hiroshima and the Feast of the Transfiguration? Derived from her
deep study of religion and life lived and examined, Elizabeth
Poreba's poems are unflinching explorations, truth-facing: 'That's
my self on the way out.' With her signature wry humor,
Poreba--thoughtful, feminist--opens new interpretations on old
stories, from Jonah to female saints, showing that questioning can
be reaffirmation of faith."
--Katrinka Moore, author of Numa and Thief
"'To the searching eye,/ any thing/ can suggest an opening.' This
terrific last stanza of 'Cryptic,' in Elizabeth Poreba's
Vexed, is also a crisp description of what she offers her
lucky readers. Poreba lets us in on her deeply moving, spiritual,
and ultimately forgiving take on this world and the savage past
that shaped it. She's a fierce warrior of faith, the best kind--the
one that is questioned again and again. Her great economy of
language suits that pursuit.
--Sarah Stern, author of But Today Is Different and
Another Word For Love
"This wonderful collection explores, sometimes with wry humor, the
vexing dichotomy between the intellect and the soul. In the poet's
search for tangible evidence of faith within the ephemeral self,
and the external world, her heart 'seeks brightness,/ but its
progress . . . ragged.' The reader's heart is also brightened by
this beautiful collection. We come away from it, not 'vexed,' but
moved and uplifted, brought in touch with our own souls."
--Mary Stewart Hammond, author of Out of Canaan
Product Details
- Title : Vexed
- Author: Poreba, Elizabeth
- Publisher: Resource Publications
- Publication Date: 2015
- ISBN: 9781498218894
Elizabeth Poreba taught English in New York City high schools for thirty-five years and now volunteers as a docent at the Old Merchant's House in Manhattan, a tutor of conversational English at New York University, and a foot soldier for the Sierra Club. She has published a chapbook, The Family Calling (2011). Her poems have appeared in Ducts.org, First Literary Review East and Commonweal, among other print and online publications.