St. Francis Poems

by David Craig

Overview

After Mary, St. Francis is clearly the most popular and influential of all the disciples of Jesus Christ. He embodies the spiritual poverty, humility, and childlikeness which are absolutely essential for anyone who wants to grow. And it is fitting, too, to examine his life in poetry, since Francis is considered by many to be the father of Italian poetry. In these St. Francis Poems, David Craig gives us what literature should: slices of Henry James's "lived life" as they move past sentimentality to get to the hard-edged, visceral realities in the original texts--though they never lose sight of laughter or of simple joy. These poems invite us to celebrate with Lady Poverty around her meager table, which is fitting, since that is the only place we will ever be fed. This project itself revisits the haunts of David Craig's first book, The Sandaled Foot (1980). But here St. Francis seems to come even more deeply alive--next to shelves of cool, protected water, in the red meadows of praise.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781621897323
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	05/24/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	102
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

David Craig is the author of twelve books of poetry, including Mary's House, and two works of fiction. He has also coedited three collections of Christian poetry with Janet McCann. He is a professor of English at Franciscan University of Steubenville, where he has been blessed to teach creative writing students for twenty-five years.
David Craig lives with his family in Weirton, WV. This is his thirty-second book, large and small.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Poems based on The Three Companions of St. Francis 1

I His birth, vanity, frivolity and prodigality 3

II How he was imprisoned in Perugia 5

III How the Lord visited Francis' heart 7

IV How he began to overcome himself 9

V How the crucifix spoke to him 10

VI How he escaped from the persecution 11

VII The hard work and fatigue involved in restoring the church 13

Poems based on the Stigmata Poems from the Fioretti 15

The first consideration of the holy stigmata 17

(The mountain is offered) The second consideration of the holy stigmata 20

(Preparation) The third consideration of the holy stigmata (Gifts) 22

Lyrics based on the Fioretti 25

I In this book are contained certain little flowers 27

II Of Brother Bernard, first companion of St. Francis 29

III How St. Francis, on account of an uncharitable thought 32

IV How the angel of God proposed a question 34

V How the holy Brother Bernard was sent 36

VI How St. Francis blessed the holy Brother Bernard 38

VII How St. Francis passed the Lent on an island 40

VIII How St. Francis showed to Brother Leo perfect joy 42

IX How St. Francis taught Brother Leo how to answer him 44

X How Brother Masseo mockingly said all the world 46

XI How St. Francis made Brother Masseo turn around 48

XII How St. Francis imposed on Masseo the office of the door 50

XIII How St. Francis and Brother Masseo praised poverty 52

XIV As St. Francis and his brothers were speaking 53

XV How St. Clare ate with St. Francis 55

XVI How St. Francis received the counsel of St. Clare 57

XVII How a little boy brother saw Christ 62

XVIII Of the marvelous chapter held at St. Mary of the Angels 64

XIX How the vineyard was despoiled 67

XX Of a wondrously beautiful vision seen by a young brother 70

XXI Of the miracle at Gubbio 72

XXII How St. Francis tamed the wild turdedoves 74

XXIII How St. Francis freed a brother who was in sin 76

XXIV How St. Francis converted the Soldan 78

XXV How St. Francis miraculously healed the leper 80

Other versions from the Fioretti 83

VI Francis blessed the holy Brother Bernard 85

XXIII How Francis freed a brother who was in sin 86

Notes 87

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"If anyone has drunk deeply of the model of St. Francis for our time, it has to be David Craig. He scatters flowers of spiritual wisdom with abandon toward us, which again and again and again bless even as they burn."
—Paul Mariani, author of Epitaphs for the Journey

"David Craig is a rare breed of religious poet, a contemporary metaphysical who like Donne or Hopkins welds fact to faith, and like no one else shows us the glimmers in the particulars of surfaces . . . This poetry is transformative; it floods the reader with the richness of the real . . . I think David Craig really is the best religious poet writing today."
—Janet McCann, author of Wallace Stevens Revisited: "The Celestial Possible"

On the Gospel Sonnets:

"Taken singly, each poem is wonderfully crafted and deeply wise. Taken together, they stand as an achievement that is nothing less than monumental. They confirm what I have long suspected, that David Craig is among the finest religious poets writing today."
—William Bedford Clark, author of The Selected Letters of Robert Penn Warren

Editorial Reviews

"If anyone has drunk deeply of the model of St. Francis for our time, it has to be David Craig. He scatters flowers of spiritual wisdom with abandon toward us, which again and again and again bless even as they burn."
—Paul Mariani, author of Epitaphs for the Journey

"David Craig is a rare breed of religious poet, a contemporary metaphysical who like Donne or Hopkins welds fact to faith, and like no one else shows us the glimmers in the particulars of surfaces . . . This poetry is transformative; it floods the reader with the richness of the real . . . I think David Craig really is the best religious poet writing today."
—Janet McCann, author of Wallace Stevens Revisited: "The Celestial Possible"

On the Gospel Sonnets:

"Taken singly, each poem is wonderfully crafted and deeply wise. Taken together, they stand as an achievement that is nothing less than monumental. They confirm what I have long suspected, that David Craig is among the finest religious poets writing today."
—William Bedford Clark, author of The Selected Letters of Robert Penn Warren

From the Publisher