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Unread 10-25-2012, 10:27 PM
Michael Cantor Michael Cantor is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Plum Island, MA; Santa Fe, NM
Posts: 11,175
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This one blew me away - both poem and commentary.

The poem deals with what I regard as two of the most difficult areas in which to write a good poem that avoids cliches, or screed, or the obvious, or preaching to the choir - religion and politics (humor would be a third) - and it does so beautifully, subtly, and in a manner that touches both believers and atheists. As a sonnet it takes chances, and the result is so good and so deep that I want to nail it to certain University doors and scream - "This! This is what a good sonnet can do! Paper your walls with copies of it."

Technically, I think the feminine line endings work well within the context of the poem. The meter never thumps, but it seems to loosen even more in the final stanza, and - again, in context - that works for me.

The commentary is not only extremely graceful and knowledgeable, but involved. Poem and commentary complement each other well.
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