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Lucifer: A Hagiography
With unflagging inventiveness and mordant wit, Philip Memmer’s Lucifer: A Hagiography explores the not-inconsiderable span of time between just before Creation and the End of Days, as experienced by God the Father’s other son. The cosmos that Memmer creates is both singularly strange and strangely familiar, and the character of Lucifer, a kind of existential hero for all time, instructs and delights us equally.
"Lucifer" is on a non-linear trajectory, revolving its readers through the profane and the pious swinging door of heaven and earth. Memmer's collection, with a few pitches and an unexpected saint we can all root for, has the power to provoke, enlighten and unsettle. The paradox remains the same-so much is at stake in these poems, and so little-but Memmer has managed to give us an original and remarkable passageway.
"Lucifer" is on a non-linear trajectory, revolving its readers through the profane and the pious swinging door of heaven and earth. Memmer's collection, with a few pitches and an unexpected saint we can all root for, has the power to provoke, enlighten and unsettle. The paradox remains the same-so much is at stake in these poems, and so little-but Memmer has managed to give us an original and remarkable passageway.
- GenresPoetry
88 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
About the author
Philip Memmer
13 books2 followersPhilip Memmer is the director of the Arts Branch of the YMCA of Greater Syracuse, where he founded the Downtown Writer's Center in 2001. He is also associate editor for Tiger Bark Press, editor of Stone Canoe, and one of the regular members of the Talk About Poetry podcast.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 5, 2018
In this collection, Phil Memmer's poems reinvents the story of Lucifer with compelling craft and imaginative reinterpretations of stories we know. Memmer's sense of free verse as a formal experience of Lucifer's free will, his deft ear, and his easy way of taking familiar myths and turning them afresh makes this book not only a book of deep spirituality but also of fine poetry.
February 21, 2009
My favorite poetry is magical. It inspires, provokes, tantalizes, upsets, worries and inspires. This is such a book. It deeply explores the human condition in amazing, painful and enlightening ways. I loved it!
Lucifer, the oldest son of God, grows up in Heaven and then falls to earth where he lives among people. He (And the author, Philip Memmer)is very sensitive to the human condition. The poems are poignant and heart wrenching. They are also so thought provoking that they inspired me to dash out and do research on Lucifer and the Bible. Very interesting. I read every poem several times and found it almost like a novel. I didn't want to put it down until I'd completed it.
Lucifer, the oldest son of God, grows up in Heaven and then falls to earth where he lives among people. He (And the author, Philip Memmer)is very sensitive to the human condition. The poems are poignant and heart wrenching. They are also so thought provoking that they inspired me to dash out and do research on Lucifer and the Bible. Very interesting. I read every poem several times and found it almost like a novel. I didn't want to put it down until I'd completed it.
April 5, 2011
As the title suggests, Lucifer: A Hagiography presents the life of God’s first son, Lucifer, who is not Satan, nor an angel, but Jesus’ older brother who rebels against God’s plan because of its cruelty. The book is powerful and moving, and was especially thought provoking to read in the Lenten season.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews