Naming of the Bones

by John F. Deane

The poems in Naming of the Bones touch on Christian values and work towards a significant faith, at the same time focusing on the wonders of an evolving cosmos. The poems delight in the things of the earth, suggesting a secular Christianity. They hope justice will overcome human greed and violence, while they assent to the seasons developing of our landscapes and the beauty and dangers of our place in creation. The sequence 'Like the Dewfall' works with the music of the French composer Olivier Messiaen and his double piano masterpiece, 'Visions de l’Amen,' a suite of seven pieces for two pianos, composed in 1943 during the Nazi Occupation of Paris. Other poems connect the 'landscape, sea-scape and sky-scape' of the Achill of Deane's formative years to the 'wonders of the Christian faith' with a sacramental awareness that is a striking feature of many of the poems.

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a firm believer that there is no reason for an individual, non-narrative poetry collection to ever be 150 pages. I ran out of steam with this one after the first major section. The book could have easily ended there. The power ebbed away a lot from there. The poems themselves were fine—some very religious, others spiritual but not dogmatic—but there were just far too many of them.