Customer Reviews

Sweet Jesus: Poems About the Ultimate Icon

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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.