A Gospel Suite

This is a small sampling of the poems I have written on the gospels of Matthew and Luke. My aim in these poems is to discover, by imaginative means, what is fresh and surprising in familiar texts. As shown in their titles, each poem addresses a single chapter, or specific verses within a single chapter, of these gospels. References or allusions to other biblical texts, either in the New Testament or in the Hebrew Bible, are frequent. So, in the poem Of Joseph, I allude to the much earlier Joseph presented in Genesis, chapter 37, and in Of Homework I refer to three passages in Deuteronomy, which can easily be tracked down by using an annotated Bible. In the belief that poems remain longer and more firmly in the mind when they appeal to the ear as well, I write in the traditional forms, metrical and rhyming, of English poetry. And, in the spirit of imaginative re-discovery, the poems from Matthew have been illustrated by my son Atticus. My hope is that such poems and pictures will motivate readers to engage anew not just with the gospels but with scripture more widely, in all its variety and power.