Sweet Jesus: Poems About the Ultimate Icon [Paperback]

Nick Carbo (Editor), Denise Duhamel (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 23, 2002

Poetry. Sixty-three contributors, including Kim Addonizio, Sherman Alexie, Mary Karr, Maxine Kumin, Molly Peacock, Hal Sirowitz, Virgil Suarez and James Tate. Foreword by Dan Wakefield. "There is nothing irreverent in true poetic imagination: No matter what experience these writers have of Jesus, they honor their visions. This marvelous anthology rescues Jesus from religious fundamentalists of all kinds, restoring Him to His rightful place as a force for tolerance, acceptance and inspiration.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nick Carbo was born in the Philippines and raised in Manila. He is the author of Secret Asian Man (Tia Chucha Press, 2000) and El Grupo McDonald's (Tia Chucha Press, 1995) and the editor of Returning a Borrowed Tongue: An Anthology of Filipino and Filipino American Poetry (Coffee House Press, 1996). Among his awards are fellowships in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundations of the Arts.

Denise Duhamel's books of poetry include Queen for a Day: Selected and New Poems (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001), The Star-Spangled Banner (Southern Illinois University Press, 1999) and Kinky (Orchises Press, 1997). Her work has been anthologized in four volumes of The Best American Poetry (2000, 1998, 1994 and 1993). She teaches poetry at Florida International University in Miami.

Product Details

• Paperback: 193 pages
• Publisher: Anthology Pr (October 23, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972055908
• ISBN-13: 978-0972055901
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,063,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An anthology that serves a purpose but . . ., December 28, 2003

By 

M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sweet Jesus: Poems About the Ultimate Icon (Paperback)

This volume aims to present images of Jesus in our culture at large, not the pious images of "fundamentalists." See it as a full book of Ferlinghetti's Christ poem. As such, the book is well worth your time. Examples:

Julia Kasdorf relates Jesus to the CO's of Vietnam: "At nine I knew what Jesus would do / it he got C.O. just for being born Mennonite. He'd go away, just like you."

Lynne Barrett's "Going Steady with Jesus (sung to a reggae beat)" is the most memorable poem of the collection: "When he asked me out / I was afraid to go / Weird reputation / But I just couldn't say no / Goin steady with Jesus"

Steve Kowit provides a humorous tale of "How the Other Thief Got into Heaven": "When Jesus got back to heaven, the thief / to whom he had promised Pradise / when they were up on the cross / was already there. But the candelabra / ... were missing"

Whether speaking of Jesus in the present, reflecting on apocryphal stories of Jesus or reconsidering the historical Jesus, the selected poems are creative. Unfortunately, while the content is creative, the poetry is generally competent and forgettable. The result is a volume worth reading ... once.