Dear Alison,
I don't think we should call Celan a "religious" poet -- he is a
non-believer who has strong arguments with the supposed "God" of the
Jews who permitted the Shoa to happen. His working through the Jewish
esoteric tradition (Kabbala, Shekina, etc.) I see more as an
investigation of cultural roots than a reference to belief structures.
As in the following poem:
Tenebrae
Nigh are we, Lord,
near and graspable.
Gripped already, Lord,
in each other clutched, as though
the body of each of us were
your body, Lord.
Pray, Lord,
Pray to us,
we are nigh.
Windskew we went on,
we went on, to bend ourselves
at hollow and hole.
To the trough we went, Lord.
It was blood, it was,
which you had spilt,Lord.
And in his exchanges with Nelly Sachs, he insists on blasphemy as an
essential need for him, whiule in a poem for her he speaks not of their
shared god, but of "your God":
Of your God was the talk, I spoke
against him, I
let the heart that I had
hope:
for
its highest, deathrattled, its
cavilling word —
okay -- in haste this morning, have to hit the road,
Pierre
On Mar 5, 2004, at 7:39 PM, Alison Croggon wrote:
> Jaan Kaplinski is another Buddhist. Paul Celan is an intensely
> religious
> poet working in Judaeic traditions.
>
> An obvious Australian poet, Jen, is Kevin Hart, who is also notable
> for a
> book which analyses Derrida in terms of St John of the Cross and
> negative
> theology. Les Murray is famously a Catholic convert and prefaces all
> his
> books "To the glory of God".
>
> Best
>
> A
>
>
> On 6/3/04 11:01 AM, "Trevor Joyce" <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Jen,
>>
>> Immediately on reading your mail, I thought of Fanny Howe: an
>> Irish-American
>> convert to Catholicism, deeply imbued also with Buddhist thinking, and
>> currently writing some of her best work. She's had a large Selected
>> out from
>> California University Press in the last few years, and some more
>> since then.
>>
>> Also, Geoffrey Hill. Much more uptight and conservative in his
>> leanings, but
>> he has his intensities.
>>
>> But those two would figure primarily as Christian believers. If you
>> move to
>> Buddhist disciplines, you can find them in poetry of many sorts. Gary
>> Snyder
>> would be one obvious place to start.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Trevor
>>
>> Once upon a time, back in the olden days - seriously wonderful poets
>> wrote
>> quite seriously about God and Religion.
>> Many spring to mind. John Donne for one. Emily Dickenson for two.
>> Does any one know of contemporary poets who write on these subjects?
>> That you
>> admire?
>> The most recent I can think of is James K. Baxter.
>> I simply don't see believing poetry being published any more.
>> Am I looking in the wrong place?
>> (Not that I am a believer, of course. Well, if I was I would never
>> admit it.)
>>
>> love jen
>>
>
>
>
> Alison Croggon
>
> Editor, Masthead
> http://www.masthead.net.au
>
> Home page
> http://www.alisoncroggon.com
>
> Blog
> http://alisoncroggon.blogspot.com
>
>
___________________________________________________________
The poet: always in partibus infidelium -- Paul Celan
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Pierre Joris
6 Madison Place
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email: [log in to unmask]
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