The Opening Ritual

In the excellent conclusion to his trilogy on chronic illness, Waldrep (The Earliest Witnesses) probes the nature of pain, art, faith, and the possibility of transcendence with philosophical rigor. The opener, “Watching the Flower-Arrangers in Ripon Cathedral,” includes a recurring image of a woman handing flowers to another woman on a stepladder, in a seemingly infinite sequence, “Always the same woman on the stepladder,/ always the same woman on the ground, handing up flowers./ Green, green, & gold.” The poem ends with the lines “I dream in pain/ & I wake in pain. Pain is a mineral. We store it in our bodies./ I hand mine to the next man, his foot already on the rung.” Many of the entries are set in cathedrals or national parks, spaces for ruminating on the wonder of creation. In “Effigy Mounds National Monument,” he writes, “The verifiable miracle is that I am here./ That, and the honey locust.” Those who have experienced chronic illness or disability will be particularly moved. Waldrep demonstrates in dazzling fashion how life, even amid hardship, is a gift. (Nov.)