Epistles

Known in the 1980s as a New Formalist—a crusader for traditional rhymes and meters—the prolific and thoughtful Jarman now attracts more attention as a poet of Christian belief. That belief, its relevance to everyday life, and its implications for a literary style become the constant topic for this set of 30 gentle prose poems, their interests and occasionally their phrasings taken from the Epistles of St. Paul. Jarman searches for connections between the next world and the one all around us, between the ideas he pursues and the life he sees: “There is no formula for bliss,” he says early on, “yet why not pretend there is?” Welcoming paragraphs and insistent sentences all but invite readers to pray along with Jarman, or at least they make clear what he derives from prayer: “at the meeting, the assembly of the lost where we are heading, our heaven will be desert distance, dunes of self-denial.” Anxious (and well-informed) about modern science, always personal if rarely autobiographical, Jarman may imagine this volume not only as a book of prose poetry, but as a meditative religious aid; “the objects of God's love,” he concludes, “are more numerous than we can ever hope to accept.” Whatever its fate as contemporary poetry, this heartfelt volume could find a substantial following among readers who seek intelligent short essays about their faith. (Oct.)