shoot, sprout: new, unexpected, inexplicable, most welcomed growth. The claim of the poem is that a stump can become a shoot. It is not dead. It still by the mercy of God has potential for life, because God has called this authorized family of human agents to reemerge into the future to make a difference in this belated, lamented city. It must have been, in ancient Israel, a moment of staggering news to have “stump” renamed “shoot.” The failed human agent is revivified, given to try again, because the city depends upon these authorized, empowered, summoned human agents and because God still
...more
