Purpaleanie and Other Permutations

by Sietze Buning, Stanley Marvin Wiersma

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

Published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Joyce]

love this poetry; wiersma captures the dialectic of the immigrant, the already & not yet of the Calvinist living in this day--well, living a few decades ago now. My kids probably don't 'get it'; in fact, there are probably lots of folk my age who wouldn't 'get it' either, unless they've been raised by Dutch Christian Reformed immigrants and spent some time in an enclave in America--Holland or GR Mich, or Sioux Centre in Iowa, or maybe Paterson, N. J. Like a lost dialect, really. Sad, but what can you do? Change happens, but I'm so glad that Wiersma's writing tells that story, for those who have ears to hear it.

[Hans Leisman]

A gift from Larry and Gretchen Borst for my high school graduation. Thought provoking about the various seasons of life.

“You and he knew that nobody fails to fall in the end. You and he know that no Sietze could give you what you needed. You and he knew God loved you both. It was enough so you could let me go.”

[Ken K]

A book of poetry related to growing up in Northwest Iowa in the Christian Reformed Church. The author gives an accurate, although exaggerated, view of the Dutch Calvinist mindset. Parts are humorous and parts are sad, but the stories allowed me to have a nostalgic view of how things were a century ago. Others from a different perspective could very likely miss the point.

[Pita-eater]

Here is a book of poetry that Dutch Calvinists will find amusing.