The Atheist's Prayer [Perfect Paperback]

Madeline Tiger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2010

The more I worked on assembling this collection, the more I realized how poems are prayers. These poems speak through visions and memories, through teaching experiences, folk tales, Biblical stories, and my responses to visual arts. Many of the poems are experimental in form and style; but the process is spiritual: the poems move toward what I can hold, and they teach me what to trust. It s no coincidence that the title poem is a rush of language, a passionate declaration of disbelief, and of belief. Madeline Tiger

Editorial Reviews

Review

In The Atheist s Prayer Madeline Tiger never forgets, even in the most intimate moments, that truth is ...like the old inveterate river that holds clouds. Tiger encompasses, with a tender embrace, a life made whole; her ministrations do not deny its sorrows, and she is glad to celebrate its hard-won triumphs. I don t know when I have ever been allowed to contemplate the intricacies of the personal so unflinchingly and to understand that, beyond the window, there is a vast untempered world, a glorious one. It is the caring in these quietly intelligent poems which makes living in this world possible. --Burt Kimmelman

To read Madeline Tiger s poetry is like flowing with the river of life itself... Life, love and death are her subjects not the abstractions but the details, and she gets the details right. --Alicia Ostriker

I much admire Madeline Tiger s poetry of observation, her keen memory and her holding of things dear... I also admire her poems of pure imagination, dreamy and scary... ...she faces... heartbreaking experiences with the bravery of good music so that there is no fake comfort.... --Gerald Stern

About the Author

Madeline Tiger s most recently published collections are The Earth Which Is All (2008) and Birds of Sorrow and Joy: New and Selected Poems, 1970-2000 (2003). Her work appears regularly in journals and anthologies. She has been teaching in state programs and private workshops since 1973 and has been a Dodge Poet since 1986. She has five children and seven grandchildren and lives in Bloomfield, NJ under a weeping cherry tree.

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 77 pages
• Publisher: Dos Madres Press Inc.; First edition (May 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933675500
• ISBN-13: 978-1933675503
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,625,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding collection, September 18, 2010

By 

reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Atheist's Prayer (Perfect Paperback)

Reading The Atheist's Prayer, I felt as if I were watching the poet (or her speaker) moving through a life and a world, from the world of the classroom to the larger, more complex world, from the great ideas embodied in Art to the chaos that surrounds us everyday in world events. I could feel her observing, taking it in, processing it, and making some sense out of it, even if it's that we must remain baffled. There's a sense of wisdom/experience about the speaker, but also an innocence and wonder--reminiscent of Blake. This morning I read "CNN Version of the Slaying," one of the collection's final poems, and I was bowled over by its beauty and power. It is a grim poem, joined by others equally grim, but well balanced by the joy that's captured in other poems. This collection recognizes both the bright promise of our lives and the dark underside. There is need for prayer--the prayer of supplication and the prayer of gratitude--a necessity recognized even by an atheist.