To the Green Man: Poems

By Mark Jarman

Book Overview

"Individually and collectively, the poems in Mark Jarman's beautiful book, To the Green Man, recognize both the need for the consolations of faith and elusiveness of faith in the face of the hard facts of experience: the loss of loved ones, depression, mortal fears, the sheer contingencies of daily life. Beyond the wonderful music of his lines, the formal poise, the mix of narrative and lyric modes, what makes To the Green Man such an important and memorable book is its enactment of a spiritual struggle to be at once at home in the world and astonished by it." --Alan Shapiro

"Called or not called, God is present. These words attributed to the Delphic Oracle serve as epigraph to one of the finest poems in Mark Jarman's stunning new collection. They also point to this poet's great theme and overshadowing preoccupation: the insoluble mystery (call it God if you wish) underlying human existence and the material world. Call on God, and he is silent (and do not presume to supply him with words of your own); do not call on him, and he is nonetheless present and may indeed be calling on you. This is the ultimate paradox confronted by Jarman in poem after brilliantly executed poem--and it is his courageous confrontation of the mystery inso many of its guises that gives his work a depth and richness matched by very few poets of our time. To the Green Man is not only Mark Jarman's best book to date (there is not a weak poem in it), it is essential reading for all who wish to experience contemporary poetry at its most humane, meaningful, and profound." --Frederick Morgan

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1932511032
• ISBN13: 9781932511031
• Release Date: July 2004
• Publisher: Sarabande Books
• Length: 88 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A Passionate New Collection

Mark Jarman's new collection picks up where "Unholy Sonnets" left off in exploring and questioning the Christian faith, simultaneously rejecting dogmatic doctrine and upholding orthodoxy. "To the Green Man" takes art (specifically paintings) as its overall subject, including poems that explore not only how painting interpret scripture, but also how certain paintings retell biblical stories. The book also includes some narrative excursions, as well, including a wonderful piece about the poet's grandfather, Ray. Buy this today and keep a look out for Jarman's new collection of prose poems.

Swimming up to the surface...

I agree with your first reviewer. Three years ago I lost my aunt and uncle on a pleasure cruise. We were extremely close, and I plunged into a terrible grieving cycle. A friend gave me a copy of Mark Jarman's Questions for Ecclesiastes and a copy of his Unholy Sonnets. Those poems, more than anything else in my life, repaired my life. If it's possible, this new book is even wiser, gentler, better--if that's possible.

Jarman should win the Pulitzer Prize

Mark Jarman's new book is a brilliant continuation of the themes for which he is so admired. Is there a poet writing today with a more keenly developed, complex spirituality? These are poems our culture needs, perhaps now more than ever. They are so readable, so thought provoking, so memorable. Treat yourself and your friends to this volume.