Kingdom Come

By Jim Simmerman

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 188116327X
• ISBN13: 9781881163275
• Release Date: April 1999
• Publisher: Miami University Press
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 0.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A True American Masterpiece

Overwhelming in its creative approach to the bible. A scholarly understanding of the bible coupled with an incredibly keen sense of humor serve to create a work for the ages. It's a book that can be read over and over and bring a smile with each reading. Truly magnificent!

Heroes and Everyman

The poems in "Kingdom Come" are fabulous. The language is vivid and direct. I found several poems, particularly parts of "The Judge" and "The Apostle," funny. Despite the title, no one should think this is a collection of religious poems. Simmerman uses biblical quotations in the margins of his poems, but the language of the quotations contrasts starkly with the language of the poems, and the poems are no gloss on the texts. Instead, the choice of texts seems sometimes tongue-in-cheek. In some of the poems, such as "The Sacrifice" and "Angel," the poems are very distant from the background stories. But the poems aren't irreligious either. The speakers in many of the poems in the book's first two sections ("Old Testament" and "New Testament") are the outsiders, the sinners: Adam, Lot's Wife, Goliath, Salome, Barabbas. They rebel against the boredom and obedience required of them, and question the constraints of given doctrine. The speakers in the third section ("Kingdom Come") are less identified with a particular character and the poems are more intimate. These are the testaments of the hopeless, the lonely, the lost; who defy the seeming arbitrariness of life and keep looking. Who survive the deluge. Simmerman's use of biblical images gives the poems in this book the power and resonance of shared history for those of us who were told these stories again and again for as long as we can remember. But his take on the stories can be startling and intensely personal.