The contrast between these two paintings and the Edenic mythos their marriage evoked struck me as a tension that might work well in a poem. So I set out to lyrically critique the one in terms of the other (I’ll let you decide which one is which) and to extrapolate connections between images that are removed from one another by over five centuries.

As always, comments are welcome.

* * * *

No Botticelli, This—

No ginger virgin, hands modest to sex and breast,
flesh fallow, fecund as sky gone to seed in the sea:
her father’s cerulean stones sickled into primordium,
become pit to her emanant pith. No escort ashore
on the zephyr’s hymned gestures toward Paradise,
wafted with rose hips come like souls wanting skin.
No velvet robes ready to sop up her mythology, to
keep her from burning her first day at the beach.

Just this Eve and her Adam, curling down currents
of dawn like leaves slipped from the knowledge tree,
flesh converging to vessel the easterly sighed down-
canyon when God realized they’d grown restless
waiting for his newly charged cherubim to doze,
drop their swords, spill the tokens and signs
of his mystery as they dreamed. So the pair
streaked through asphodel fields instead, emerged
from under cover fig leaves into the blush of blossom
against bodies gnawing, gnawing at the edges of sky.

Much depends on exactly how you define Mormon Literature. Excluding the Book of Mormon, however, the first literary works were first published in June of 1832, in the first number of the Evening and Morning Star. That first LDS newspaper included several poems in its first issue, two of which were by LDS authors W.W. Phelps (the newspaper’s editor) and Parley P. Pratt.

Of course, these were the first published. We may never know for sure exactly what was the first work written, since not everything has survived in a dated manuscript form. But I did learn recently, from early Mormon document collector Jon Hajicek, that another Parley P. Pratt poem was written well before the first issue of the Evening and Morning Star was published. Hajicek says he has a manuscript copy of Pratt’s A Song of Zion, a poem he dedicated “To Mrs Clarisa Chapen of Independence Jacson County Misourie” (evidently Miss Clarissa Melissa Chapin, the daughter of Adolphus Chapin, a Mormon identified from the Whitmer settlement in Jackson County, Missouri ). The poem was later included in Pratt’s first book, The Millennium (1835), as “Historical Sketch from the Creation to the Present Day. In Three Parts.” and appears as “Song 1. (Common Metre)” in the collection.

From what I can tell, Pratt was in Missouri twice during 1831, once early in the year, and a second time from December into 1832. Whether this poem was written during the earlier or the later visit, I can’t tell. Regardless, it was written at least 6 months before the publication of the first issue of the Evening and Morning Star.

Like A Song of Zion, both of the poems in that first published issue in 1832 were later included in a book — Emma Smith’s A Collection of Sacred Hymns, the first LDS hymnal. But unlike the poem included in The Millennium, these two were much longer lived. Both also appeared in the Manchester LDS hymnal, first published in 1840, and in subsequent editions of hymnals until as recently as 1912. Of the two, Pratt’s seems to have been the more popular, since it is mentioned as having been sung on several different occasions in LDS publications, while Phelp’s hymn isn’t mentioned, although it seems likely that it was sung at least occasionally over the years.

After describing all this and emphasizing their place as the first of Mormon literary efforts, I should probably let you read the poems. Here then are the first two published works of Mormon literature (except scripture):

What fair one is this, in the wilderness traveling

By W. W. Phelps

What fair one is this, in the wilderness trav’ling,
Looking for Christ, the belov’d of her heart?
O this is the Church, the fair bride of the Savior,
Which with every idol is willing to part.
While men in contention, are constantly howling,
And Babylon’s bells are continually tolling,
As though all the craft of her merchants was failing,
And Jesus was coming to reign on the earth.

There is a sweet sound in the gospel of heaven,
And people are joyful when they understand;
The saints on their way home to glory, are even
Determin’d, by goodness, to reach the blest land.
Old formal professers [professors] are crying “delusion,”
And high minded hypocrites day, “’tis confusion,”
While grace is pour’d out in a blessed effusion,
And saints are rejoicing to see priest-craft fall.

A blessing a blessing, the Savior is coming,
As prophets and pilgrims of old have declar’d;
And Israel, the favor’d of God, is beginning
To come to the feast for the righteous prepar’d.
In the desert are fountains continually springing,
The heavenly music of Zion is ringing;
The saints all their tithes and offerings are bringing;
They thus prove the Lord and his blessing receive.

The name of Jehovah is worthy of praising,
And so is the Savior an excellent theme:
The Elders of Israel a standard are raising,
And call on all nations to come to the same:
These Elders go forth and the gospel are preaching,
And all that will hear them, they freely are teaching,
And thus is the vision of Daniel fulfilling [fulfilling];
The Stone of the mountains will soon fill the earth.

THE time is nigh, that happy time

By Parley P. Pratt

THE time is nigh, that happy time,
That great, expected, blessed day,
When countless thousands of our race,
Shall dwell with Christ and him obey.

The prophecies must be fulfil’d
Though earth and hell should dare oppose;
The stone out of the mountain cut,
Though unobserved, a Kingdom grows.

Soon shall the blended Image fall,
Brass, silver, iron, gold and clay;
And superstition’s dreadful reign,
To light and liberty give way.

In one sweet symphony of praise,
The Jews and Gentiles will unite;
And infidelity, o’er come,
Return again to endless night.

From east to west, from north to south,
The Savior’s Kingdom shall extend,
And every man in every place,
Shall meet a brother and a friend.

Title: Your Luck Is About To Change

Poet:Susan Elizabeth Howe

Publication Info: Poetry, December 2002

Submitted by: Tyler Chadwick

Why?: Tyler says: “For this line: ‘marriage spicy as moo-goo-gai-pan.’ Oh, and for the dinosaur nativity. (Read it. You’ll see.)”

Participate:

All Payday Poetry posts so far

Click here to fill out the Payday Poetry form

Here’s the link to the spreadsheet so you can see what’s already been submitted

Here’s a link to the kick off post with a list of possible sources

I’d like the thank all the gracious poets who contributed to the Spring Poetry Runoff not only for participating beautifully but also for exceeding my expectations for the number of poems submitted.    There really was a great turnout of celebrants and a good show of high-quality poetry.

The poll to determine the winner of the Spring Poetry Runoff Popular Poem Award will close Friday. May 7, but winners of both the popular vote and the Admin Award will be announced Monday, May 10th.   So keep an eye on WIZ to see how matters settle out.  Also, clean off your reading glasses.  Twenty-one poems qualified for the voting, any one of which can cause you to linger.   Another matter to consider: Each voter can vote for his or her three favorite poems!  Instructions on how to access each poem are available in the post–please read instructions there carefully.

To vote, click here.

The winner of the Popular Vote Award and the winner of the Admin Award will receive as prize his or her choice of either Lance Larsen’s Backyard Alchemy or Warren Hatch’s Mapping the Bones of the World.

2009 was a very good year for poetry. I’ve identified 8 new titles published since last year’s list. In addition, seven titles by Karen Kelsay, who let us know about her poetry last year, are included on this year’s list.

The only downside is how difficult it is to get some of these titles. Last year, when I learned that BYU would issue The Complete Poetry of Eliza R. Snow, I ordered a copy from Amazon.com. Three months later the book still hadn’t arrived — BYU never sent it to Amazon. When Amazon canceled the order, I ended up purchasing the book from a dealer.

Unfortunately, this isn’t unusual. BYU normally does this with the books they publish — and the new edition of Discoveries: Two Centuries of Poems by Mormon Women, also released last year, doesn’t even appear on Amazon–or anywhere else for that matter.

Another of the new volumes released last year, Mary Lythgoe Bradford’s Purple, also isn’t available from anywhere but the publisher, Dialogue. But unlike BYU, this is likely because of Dialogue’s relative inexperience in distributing books. In addition, many of the titles published using Lulu, the vanity printer, such as R. A. Christmas’ When it Snowed in Pasadena, released last year, also don’t appear on Amazon or other major sellers, probably because the authors don’t know about  alternative printers and distributors who can sell on Amazon at a reasonable price (Lulu charges extra to sell books outside its own website).

The problem with this is, of course, that the titles that don’t make the national distribution network, and through this network appear on Amazon.com and other major booksellers, are hard to find and remain unknown to most of their potential audience. For that audience, its as if the books were never published.

Again this year I tried to be thorough. I’ve compared the authors on this list to those in the Mormon Literature and Culture database, to Andrew Hall’s superb review of what was published in the last year, and last year’s posts and comments about poetry here on A Motley Vision. Of course, it is possible, if not likely, that I have missed something. Please let me know.

Poetry in Print:

• Aitken, Neil. The Lost Country of Sight
• Anderson, Susan Noyes. His Children
• Beeson, Sam. The UnValentine (for children)
• Bennion, Mark D. Psalm & Selah: A Poetic Journey Through The Book of Mormon
• Bradford, Mary L. PURPLE: Poems by Mary Lythgoe Bradford
• Bushman-Carlton, Marilyn. On Keeping Things Small: Poems
• Carabine, Sue. Missionary’s Night Before Christmas (gift book — she has done a whole series of XXX’s Night Before Christmas books)
• Christmas, R. A. A Long Spoon
• Christmas, R. A. City of Roses
• Christmas, R. A. Driving on the Lake Bed
• Christmas, R. A. Housebroken
• Christmas, R. A. Hungry Sunday
• Christmas, R. A. The Kingdom of God–or Nothing!
• Christmas, R. A. When it Snowed in Pasadena
• Collings, Michael R. All Calm, All Bright: Christmas Offerings
• Collings, Michael R. Dark Transformations: Deadly Visions of Change
• Collings, Michael R. In the Void: Poems of Science Fiction, Myth and Fantasy, & Horror
• Collings, Michael R. Naked to the Sun: Dark Visions of Apocalypse
• Collings, Michael R. The Nephiad: An epic poem in twelve books
• Hamblin, Laura. Eyes of a Flounder
• Hatch, Warren. Mapping the Bones of the World
• Hindmarsh, Ted C. Campfire Verses (for children)
• Howe, Susan Elizabeth and Sheree Maxwell Bench. Discoveries: Two Centuries of Poems by Mormon Women
• Jepson, Eric W. et al. Plain and Precious Parts from The Fob Bible
• Jepson, Eric W. et al. The Fob Bible
• Johnson, Kimberly. Leviathan With a Hook
• Johnson, Kimberly. A Metaphorical God: Poems
• Kelsay, Karen. Buttercup Garden (ebook for children)
• Kelsay, Karen. Karen Kelsay Collected Poems
• Kelsay, Karen. A Fist of Roots
• Kelsay, Karen. Forever in Avalon
• Kelsay, Karen. In Spite of Her
• Kelsay, Karen. Somewhere Near Evesham
• Kelsay, Karen. Song of the Bluebell Fairy
• Larsen, Lance. Backyard Alchemy: Poems
• Larsen, Lance. Erasable Walls
• Larsen, Lance. In All Their Animal Brilliance: Poems
• Liu, Timothy. Bending the Mind Around the Dream’s Blown Fuse (As I understand it, Liu no longer considers himself Mormon)
• Liu, Timothy. Burnt Offerings
• Liu, Timothy. For Dust Thou Art
• Liu, Timothy. Of Thee I Sing
• Liu, Timothy. Polytheogamy (Poet/Artist Collaboration)
• Liu, Timothy. Say Goodnight
• Liu, Timothy. Vox Angelica
• Pearson, Carol Lynn. Beginnings & Beyond: An Anthology of Poetry
• Pearson, Carol Lynn. In Love Again and Always
• Snow, Eliza R. (edited by Jill Mulvay Derr and Karen Lynn Davidson) Eliza R Snow: The Complete Poetry
• Swenson, May. Centaur, The (for children)
• Swenson, May. The Complete Love Poems of May Swenson
• Swenson, May. Dear Elizabeth: Five Poems & Three Letters to Elizabeth Bishop
• Swenson, May. May Out West
• Swenson, May. Nature: Poems Old and New
• Swenson, Paul. Iced at the Ward, Burned at the Stake
• Talbot, John. The Well-Tempered Tantrum
• Tanner, Javen, Curses for Your Sake

—-

Out of Print:

I did not find any of last years books that went out of print this year.

Poets: there’s still plenty of time to enter the Spring Poetry Runoff Contest.  Entries will be accepted until March 31, and each poet may submit up to three poems.  All poems should have at their heart thoughts of spring, or they should at least mention spring among other musings about the human/nature story.  The winner will be determined by readers’ choice and he or she will receive as a prize his or her choice of Lance Larson’s Backyard Alchemy or Scott Hatch’s Mapping the Bones of the World. Entries will post until all poems have been posted.  Following that, a poll that will go up on WIZ to allow readers to vote for their favorite poem.

Beside the Readers’ Choice prize, we at WIZ have decided to add a second prize–the Admin Award, for the poem we like best.  The winner of the Admin Award will receive the same prize as the Readers’ Choice Award winner–his or her choice of the aforementioned books of verse.

As mentioned before, non-competing poems and other verse-oriented submissions are welcomed during the Spring Poetry Runoff.  So please come by WIZ and join the fire ring.  Tell a story, sing a song, comment, or just read and wander off into the nearest park, canyon, or garden.

Title: Moses and Aron

Poet: Will Bishop

Publication Info: 2009, The Fob Bible, published by Peculiar Pages

Submitted by: Theric Jepson

Why?: Th. writes: “.

If Will and I weren’t both Mormon, I don’t suppose I could give this poem as heavily a Mormon reading as I do. To me, this is the Mormon Moses and the Mormon Aaron. It will be fun to discuss why.”

Participate:

All Payday Poetry posts so far

Click here to fill out the Payday Poetry form

Here’s the link to the spreadsheet so you can see what’s already been submitted

Here’s a link to the kick off post with a list of possible sources

In keeping with WIZ’s mission to help develop, inspire, and promote literary nature and science writing in the Mormon writing community, we encourage poets to help call an end to winter and midwife the birth of a milder season, a season of gardens, returning flocks, and light that takes the tarnish off the blood.

Contest rules

* Submit poems to wilderness@motleyvision.org between March 7 and March 31.
* All poems submitted must be original, published or unpublished work.  If the work has been previously published, please provide publication information and be sure you can grant us rights to re-publish the work.
* Please submit poems 50 lines long or less.
* All poems submitted must be spring-themed or at least mention spring.
* Poets may submit up to 3 poems.

For more information, click here.

Title: Marking the Lambs

Poet: Kimberly Johnson

Publication Info: Slate, Nov. 21, 2006

Submitted by: Tyler Chadwick

Why?: Tyler writes: “Johnson is a poet that doesn’t shy away from the grittiness of mortality. ‘Marking the Lambs’ is evidence of that, and that even in the grit (of farm work and language work), we can approach transcendence and depth of feeling. The poem is accompanied by an audio file of Johnson reading the poem.”

Participate:

All Payday Poetry posts so far

Click here to fill out the Payday Poetry form

Here’s the link to the spreadsheet so you can see what’s already been submitted

Here’s a link to the kick off post with a list of possible sources

And again: so far, Theric is the only one who has submitted anything. Spend 15-20 minutes this holiday season and dig up something good for us. Or I’ll be forced to start posting more of my slammin’ rhymes. And nobody wants that.

Title: Philistina

Poet: Danny Nelson

Publication Info: The FOB Bible, 2009

Submitted by: Theric Jepson

Why?: Th. writes: “.

I hope you appreciate that I am limiting myself to one poem per poet included in Plain and Precious Parts. It’s not easy. I picked this one because it was a poem even my father, not a famed devourer of poetry, latched on to immediately and has told many people about. He has brought it up in conversations. I think it’s new point of view gave him equal parts fascination and sadness.”

Wm adds: I do appreciate it. I also appreciate the comment on the new point of view — that’s something that literature can give us that other forms of discourse can’t (or at least can’t in quite the same way).

Participate:

All Payday Poetry posts so far

Click here to fill out the Payday Poetry form

Here’s the link to the spreadsheet so you can see what’s already been submitted

Here’s a link to the kick off post with a list of possible sources