Questions for Ecclesiastes

In his latest collection, Jarman (The Black Riviera, 1990) reveals scenes from his life as a teenage surfer in California and as a husband and father: ""To lie in your child's bed when she is gone/ Is as calming as anything I know. To fall/ Asleep, her books arranged above your head."" Other, less ruminative works grapple with the possibility of God and the condition of humanity. The narrative ""Transfiguration"" conflates the words of Christ with the advice of a modern-day physician: ""And he said, `All things are possible to those who believe. Shave her head,/ Insert a silicone tube inside her skull, and run it under her scalp.'"" The irony in such poems is inescapable; not so clear are the points this irony is intended to serve. In the title poem, phrases from Ecclesiastes blend with an account of a contemporary teenage suicide. It ends: ""And God,/ who could have shared what he knew with people who needed/ urgently to hear it, God kept a secret."" The sequence ""Unholy Sonnets"" expands this protest, variously addressing God as ""Gracious Lord,"" ""First Letter of the Alphabet, Last Word,/ Mutual Satisfaction, Cash Award,"" and ""O Big Idea."" A man afflicted with trials like Job's asks why: ""And God grumped from his rain cloud, `I can't say./ Just something about you pisses me off.'"" Jarman posits--and challenges--a God remote from human experience in these poems, which, despite their rhymes and structures, ring a too discursive note and offer little sense of movement. (Jan.) FYI: Jarman co-edited Rebel Angels: 25 Poets of the New Formalism (1996).