Fans of the smart-mouthed hell-raiser need not fear. Karr brings the same unstinting truth-telling sensibility to her spiritual concerns as she has to her earthly struggles.
These poems…demonstrate poetry as religion’s kin. While not for the unquestioning devout, this book should stand beside works by writers like Thomas Merton or William Everson (a.k.a. Brother Antonitus) in both poetry and spiritual collections.
Sinners Welcome mixes her beloved stories from the wrong side of the tracks with new notes of care and forgiveness and pure, often angry, hymns to God. . . . It’s a daring mix. Before she had her fists up; now she strips herself bare, a far braver act.
So much trickery has been got up to in relgion’s name that it’s natural to get nervous when a writer starts talking about salvation, but Karr never tries to substitute faith for sound poetic practices. If anything, by adding prayer, she just makes the poems that much stronger.
The author of the memoirs The Liar's Club and Cherry began as a poet; this first collection of verse since 1995's Viper Rum alternates between a familiar, unsparing autobiographical vein and a new commitment to Christian belief. Karr, a recovering alcoholic and a temperamental skeptic, entered the Catholic church in 1996, and poems about God, Christ and Christian rituals may draw most readers' attention: "Disgraceland" describes "my first communion at 40," and tries to blend Karr's characteristic acerbity with her interest in religious compassion: "You are loved, someone said. Take that and eat it." Some of the strongest of Karr's clean, direct free-verse efforts have less to do with religion than with her friends, children, parents, vexing early life. When she writes of "the winter Mother's ashes came in a Ziploc bag," fans of her prose will relate. (Mar.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Poetry "was most crucially the first source of awe for me, partly because it could ease my sense of isolation," notes Karr (best known for her memoir The Liar's Club) in the essay "Facing Altars: Poetry and Prayer," which acts as an afterword to this collection. Karr converted to Catholicism in 1996, "after a lifetime of undiluted agnosticism," and many of the poems embrace God with an intensity born out of violence that refuses to be masked. The titles of some poems say it all: "Disgraceland," "Waiting for God: Self-Portrait as a Skeleton," or "Overdue Pardon for Mother with Knife." One of the most memorable poems, "Coathanger Bent into Halo," begins: "Gathering up my mother's clothes for the poor/ I find the coathanger that almost aborted me." It continues through a vivid description of the hypothetical abortion, ending with the hope that the same hanger can also be twisted into "a halo to crown my son's head." These poems, even more than the essay, demonstrate poetry as religion's kin. While not for the unquestioning devout, this book should stand beside works by writers like Thomas Merton or William Everson (a.k.a. Brother Antonitus) in both poetry and spiritual collections.-Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, "Soho Weekly News," NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
So much trickery has been got up to in relgion’s name that it’s natural to get nervous when a writer starts talking about salvation, but Karr never tries to substitute faith for sound poetic practices. If anything, by adding prayer, she just makes the poems that much stronger.” — David Kirby, New York Times
“What gives Sinners Welcome its sharp edge is the poet’s eloquently passionate struggle at the junction of doubt and devotion.” — Judith Kitchen, Washington Post
“Fans of the smart-mouthed hell-raiser need not fear. Karr brings the same unstinting truth-telling sensibility to her spiritual concerns as she has to her earthly struggles.” — Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer
“Sinners Welcome mixes her beloved stories from the wrong side of the tracks with new notes of care and forgiveness and pure, often angry, hymns to God. . . . It’s a daring mix. Before she had her fists up; now she strips herself bare, a far braver act.” — Laurel Maury, Los Angeles Times
“Searing, not sentimental.” — Sam Hodges, Dallas Morning News
“These poems…demonstrate poetry as religion’s kin. While not for the unquestioning devout, this book should stand beside works by writers like Thomas Merton or William Everson (a.k.a. Brother Antonitus) in both poetry and spiritual collections.” — Rochelle Ratner, Library Journal
Searing, not sentimental.
