Lion Sun: Poems by Pavel Chichikov [Paperback]

Pavel Chichikov (Author), Eric Young (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 10, 1999

"Lion Sun" contains more than 70 poems by a poet who was received into the Catholic Church in 1988 and who derives much of his inspiration from the natural world. His poetry takes the reader to gardens inhabited by warblers, groundhogs, toads, and bumblebees, to the beginnings of the cosmos, to the Garden of Eden, to the shores of the Sea of Galilee, to the foot of the Cross, and to lonely chapels where God himself hears confessions, where St. Christopher drowsily guards the tabernacle, and where painted statues "earless listen to the chants." Pavel meditates on serpents, spiders, thunderstorms, geological processes, and the obstinate sinfulness of humanity. Reminders of the Creator are everywhere:

"Sight of God, a white-tailed buck / Apparition in the meadow-- / Tines aloft above the rack / A temple's undulant menorah..."

"Crocodiles are hammered out with tongs / Strong to grapple, strong to sprawl and squat / Fire sprays around them in the forge / Sparks arise, the iron jaws are hot..."

"A cormorant, glistening with oil and water / A wise crane, ordained as was Melchizidek..."

Pavel's relationship with the spiritual is intimate and affectionate:

"Our Lord was in the chapel cleaning / Swung his mop in curving lines / As once he wrote archaic dust / So now he soaps a long design..."

"Mary fell on greyish ice / Near St. Pimen's church on Seleznovskaya-- / An angel helped her, saying: / 'There, there, go slowly dear,' / and led her to Tikhvinskaya..."

"Gabriel stands behind my chair / Folding brown-blue wings to fit the room..."

Eric Young created the cover image of the Lion and the six black-and-white text illustrations. The poet and artist, who had not yet met in person, worked together by e-mail, sharing their understanding of the poetry. Eric's illustration for one poem led Pavel to change the title, to "Pouring the Moon." About the crucifixion poem "The Voice of the Birds," Eric wrote: "There was probably little apparent difference between Christ's figure and the others crucified that day. And it struck me that this 'omega' for his physical self complemented his entry into the world: He came in like a common man and went out like a common man. At first glance, people may not be sure which figure in the drawing is Christ, but I think they will figure it out...like the birds in the poem." Of "Dark Lightning": "While Pavel visualizes the angel with traditional wings and robes, readers are free to see their own angel, to see the presence of God in their own life, which I think is unique from person to person." Of "Poets": "I've placed a tasty dragonfly just out of reach of the hungry kois' gaping mouths. Though they strain and stretch, they're never going to catch that bug. This is how I envision that journey of poets and seekers-we see it and can almost taste it but sometimes feel we can't quite swallow it."

Editorial Reviews

Review

"After you read these poems, the world--trees and bugs and the sky--will look different to you. Pavel's poems lift my heart up to God more than just about anything else I can think of." -- Abigail Tardiff

"Lion Sun is simply wonderful work. I am so glad that you're publishing it!" -- Mark P. Shea

"Pavel Chichikov is a great lion of a poet. He writes with wit and moral authority in the most demanding forms. His voice is full of a wild grandeur. His work is splendid and we are lucky to have it." -- Richard Greene, author of "Republic of Solitude"

One finds oneself struck, bidden, haunted, daunted--what else?--by the diction, rhythm, imagery, and allusions. It is not easy stuff (which is a high compliment in T. S. Eliot's view), but one feels that glory and mystery are lurking in every line (e.g., "Pouring the Moon," "Crossroad"--well, all of them). -- Thomas Howard, professor of English at St. John's Seminary, Brighton, Massachusetts, and author of numerous books on Christian themes

From the Publisher

Grey Owl Press is a recently established independent publisher specializing in contemporary Catholic literary works.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 90 pages
• Publisher: Grey Owl Pr (August 10, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 096719010X
• ISBN-13: 978-0967190105
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,824,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Pavel Chichikov is a Washington DC-based poet and photographer. He has written for both the secular and the Catholic press on issues as diverse as Russian nuclear weapons systems, Olympic athletes, and miracles. His books include Lion Sun: Poems by Pavel Chichikov (Grey Owl Press, 1999), Mysteries and Stations in the Manner of Ignatius (Kaufmann Publishing, 2005), and Animal Kingdom (Kaufmann Publishing, 2009). Pavel may be heard reading his works on catholicradiointernational.com and on pavelreads.com. His poetry regularly appears on "The Poetry of Pavel Chichikov," http://users.erols.com/fishhook/.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Deeply Personal Spirtual Landscape., October 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Lion Sun: Poems by Pavel Chichikov (Paperback)

Pavel's work is lyrical and intensely personal. There are observations of the physical world included in the verse [including a delightful response to the goldfinch in " The Small Musician"] but most of the poems are spiritual landscapes - poems that speak of a lively mind's encounters with guilt, grace, God, the World, the Flesh and the Devil. Observations of nature are essentially the beginnings of a spiritual insight so that a toad, a dragonfly, birdsong or storm becomes emblematic of a spiritual life that transcends the physical. In this sense, his work owes much to the nineteenth century Romantics; the same sense of the poet alone in the natural world characteristic of Wordsworth or Gerard Manly Hopkins pervades the poetry of Lion Sun.

Using simple verse forms, Chichikov brings a visionary style to the work. The poet's own voice is a constant feature of the verse. Many poems begin with and specificity the poet conveys. The weakness, perhaps, is that the poet may become baffling in the allusions spun. One sometimes leaves a poem curiously unsatisfied that the power of the message is lost when a crucial element is missed by the reader. There are few contexts in which to fix the poems. The works are largely undated and there is no introduction or biographical information in which to fix the work. Where the poems work well without contexts, they are powerful and winsome.

The spiritual landscapes drawn in the verse are often on the largest canvas. Saints and sinners, giants and angels, creation and redemption figure in the poems. Political features only intrude into the landscapes for their spiritual interest as in the sonnet The Voice.

Chichikov is at his best when he is most tender and personal, when the biggest allegories give way to the fine observation and instress, as Hopkins would have it. My favourite poem in the anthology is called Creation - a sonnet written for his wife Nancy. Like the person to whom it is dedicated, the poem is gentle, subtle and intelligent

The book is stunning in its design with an exquisite typeface and display. The illustrations by Eric Young are lively and attractive. This is a book that will puzzle, charm and inspire and deserves a wider readership than poetry usually commands

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent work from a magnificent poet, September 29, 1999

By 

Mark P Shea - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lion Sun: Poems by Pavel Chichikov (Paperback)

A brilliant collection of poetry from one of our greatest poets. I can't recommend it highly enough.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pavel Chichikov's _Lion Sun_ is a gift of faith., September 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Lion Sun: Poems by Pavel Chichikov (Paperback)

Pavel Chichikov is an inspired writer whose poems in _Lion Sun_ are an invitation to a walk in the natural/cerebral forest, and along the path one may find one's feet slipping down a crevice into a deep river of meaning, sliding into galaxies of timelessness and space, dimensions of darkness and light. His are not poems for the superficially religious or faint of heart. Pavel weaves words of steel and feather into fish hooks to lure those hungry in spirit for a Christian faith with substance, truth, and nourishment. Pavel Chichikov is a master of sensitivity and beauty, as well as terror and fierceness, and we, his readers, are privileged to have his work in print to challenge and uplift us. Because he is a brilliant, prolific writer, inspired by the Spirit which awakened his own faith in Jesus Christ, and obedient to the call to share his work at this time, it is my hope that _Lion Sun_ will gain wide recognition and is the first of many of his books to come. The book is beautiful in composition and presentation, enhanced by the powerful artwork of Eric Young. I recommend _Lion Sun_whole-heartedly.