Featuring Paul J. Pastor in The State of the Arts & Culture series.
GOLD DOES NOT TARNISH. It was as treasured in ancient Mesopotamia as it will be treasured by the yet-unrisen empires of future Mars. No matter what new, flimsy currencies spring up around it, its value endures. It has always been here and always will be. It will always shine. Its very permanence means that, at times, it can be taken absolutely for granted.
In this sense, gold and poetry have much in common. Poetry is one of the oldest and purest forms of human creativity. It is the artistic medium most intimately connected to the quality and richness of human language. Today, it is often thought of as a highbrow or niche discipline—simply because people don’t realize the sheer abundance of poetry written throughout history.
Poetry forms the burning center of every song, the beat of every nursery rhyme, enriching our culture’s store of images and language. It enlivens film, music, sculpture, dance, fiction, and so much more. It deepens conversation and contributes heart and humor to otherwise unspiced thoughts.
Poetry is the engine that drives your very dreams, as even your own mind finds ways to “tell all the truth but tell it slant,” as Dickinson famously wrote. Poetry is woven into the fabric of our Scriptures and the vocabulary and idiom of our very language. It is the strongest and most distilled form of language; the whiskey of literature; the good stuff. Or at least it should be.
SADLY, THE FORTUNES OF POETRY in our culture have declined in the past century. This is due to some very flashy competitors for our attention. But it’s also because many poets have, in part, badly flubbed their job. For nearly three thousand years, the Western humanities had assumed that the shared goal of learning and culture was to pursue the transcendentals of truth and beauty, often through the creation of art and literature. Christianity consciously inherited this tradition, leading to an exceptionally high premium on individual creativity, thought, and expression.
There is nothing wrong with innovation in literature. In fact, quite the opposite. But because of this shift, poetry became almost entirely centered on individual identity. In most cases, this led to the detriment of their poetic work. The gold, to return to our metaphor, was getting mixed with all sorts of lesser things, and did not shine quite like gold should. Formal elements that were intimately related to the intrinsic core of poetry—including techniques of repetition (like meter and rhyme) and image—became optional.
Now, I may be mildly overstating my case. There have always been exceptions, and very important ones, including Derek Walcott, Geoffrey Hill, Mary Oliver, Christian Wiman, Wendell Berry, Mark Jarman, A. E. Stallings, Billy Collins, Patricia Smith, Dana Gioia, and many others.
But as a whole, Poetry seemed to grow increasingly irrelevant the farther the craft strayed from its core identity as a living literary tradition dedicated to the fixed pursuit of beauty and wisdom. Most poets simply gave us fewer reasons to care about their work. And so, naturally, most of us stopped caring.
FOR THE PAST DECADE OR SO, though, a significant renewal moment has been taking place in our poetry. This is being led by poets who relate to their larger literary and spiritual traditions with sharp senses of craft and contemporary energy. They are dynamically bringing the riches of tradition to bear on the problems and opportunities of now.
This moment of renewal shows promise of becoming an actual renewal movement (I choose the word renewal because I have not heard anyone use a better one), as institutions naturally arise from it. Rather than simply a handful of scattered writers looking for opportunities where they can be found, there are the beginnings of excellent publishers, journals, graduate programs, and a culture of artistic friendship emerging that did not exist ten years ago. Really, they did not have much momentum even five years ago.
Healthy literary movements arise from a broad ecology: You need strong individuals and institutions. You need vibrant authors, editors, and critics, each of whom plays a vital role in producing good literature. You need retail opportunities that strike the right balance between open and selective. And more than anything, you need passionate readers ready to invest money and attention to support the possibilities of new literature.
I see humble but encouraging signs for a return to “golden” poetry in each of these categories. These institutions include (but are not limited to) publishers such as Wiseblood Books and Slant Books, publications like Liberties, The New Criterion, Plough, The Windhover, Presence, New Verse Review, and our own Inkwell (formerly Ekstasis). Even publications not known for their poetry are publishing new poems, including First Things, The Lamp, and others. A host of smaller journals and other outlets are also popping up, often of surprising quality.
Notable figureheads like Malcolm Guite and Dana Gioia inspire listeners on YouTube and beyond with their poetry recitations. Highly selective new poetry prizes have opened, often favoring formal verse. Even mainstream Christian nonfiction publishers are beginning to publish creative projects, including poetry and similar writing from recognizable names in Christian publishing.
THIS RETURN TO A HIGH VIEW of the art and possibility of poetry is being rightfully rewarded with readers. Some of the reasons, ironically, for this return are the reduced attention spans and high levels of distraction in our time. Has there ever been a better time to specialize in what is typically short literature?
Poetry offers the possibility of caring for a culture that struggles to read books. It does so by packing in rich and strong language that points the individual toward truth and beauty. Yet, by its very foreignness, orality, and formational power, poetry can lift whole souls with a few well-crafted lines.
There were times in our civilisation where poetry formed the core of culture for an illiterate populace. We are, without exaggeration, returning to a new iteration of this state. But I believe that we poets will be ready for it, rising to a dark occasion, doing what we have always done: stewarding the light by means of words and delighting together in this tough but joyous work.
THE CHALLENGE FOR writers and readers at this moment will simply be to rise to it. Can we see the enduring value that poetry has for this time? Will we participate in supporting excellent new literature—by reading it, writing it, buying it, sharing it, reviewing it, loving it? Can we relate to this era with something deeper than a deconstructive cynicism or a consumer’s lazy clicking habits? For those willing to humbly and joyfully “show up,” I believe that there is an exciting opportunity to help restore the fallen fortunes of poetry, one well-crafted line at a time. And have we ever needed this more?
With a growing and dedicated readership, a connected and skillful group of writers, and a cultural moment ripe for a resurgence of the analog and the authentic, Christian poets are poised to contribute something special to the literature of our time. I think with joy about the possibilities of poetry today to help us “remember what it would impoverish us to forget,” as Robert Frost said.
We’re discovering that, yes, gold still shines, and all the brighter amid the shadows of this present moment. And maybe, should it return to its rightful place of honor in our culture again, we won’t take it for granted.
Paul J. Pastor
Editor & Poet
Paul J. Pastor serves as an executive editor for Nelson Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, and is the author of several books, most recently The Locust Years: Poems (Wiseblood Books). His poetry, essays, and criticism have been published widely. He lives in Oregon.
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Missing from the list of luminaries (and to be added) would be Micah Mattix of the Substack Prufrock and editor of Christian Poetry in America Since 1940 (2022) -- a staggeringly good volume, along with daily work of Joseph Bottums and Sally Thomas and their daily Substack, Poems Ancient and Modern. All three have pointed me to wonderfully smart poems.
"the whiskey of literature"—yes, indeed! Thank you for these thoughtful, encouraging reflections, Paul.