3 Comments

"most drink to kill

time, blunt sense, dull pain"

I love the way these two lines are set up: the separation of 'kill' from 'time' makes it feel much more sinister for a moment while your eyes jump to the next line. Then you feel a little relief, but you know that sinister feeling shows something about how we ought to view these things. They are the way of death after all (or often lead to it)...

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I enjoyed Willett’s decision to actively grapple with the story of Jesus and the mud tincture within the lines of this poem (and, in those lines, I became a co-grappler). This is everything a poem should be.

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Beautiful. I'm interpreting it as a celebration of traditions that may not have aged well in light of new information or cultural change, but still maintain their value as expressions of goodwill and mutuality.

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