The Book of Sorrows (Southern Arizona Press 2023), by professor, author, and playwright Kenneth Robbins, is a brave and sometimes acerbic retelling of portions of the Old Testament in verse form. Brave, because it must have been a difficult undertaking to recast Old Testament stories as poems with modern sensibilities. Brave also because some readers might be offended by the irreverent, almost satirical qualities in portions of the collection, which might land as blasphemy to the devout.
The poems are well done and reading them is sure to be an evocative, engaging experience for many readers. Be forewarned though, if you were raised on the gently sanitized Old Testament stories oft told to children in Sunday School, that’s not what these poems reflect. As a trigger warning, some of the more violent Old Testament stories are spun by Robbins into poems with modern language, and no matter how well written the poems are, the stories told within several poems are disconcertingly brutal.
Only available as a paperback, The Book of Sorrows has an arresting and attractive cover based upon Rembrandt’s painting “Jermiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem” (1630), and the poems are illustrated by classic pieces of public domain art. Even though the artwork appears in black and white, the illustrations enrich the overall experience of reading this collection. Each of the 26 poems contains the reference to its biblical source as well as a separate poem title.
As with the Old Testament, this collection of poetry begins with the familiar quote from Genesis 1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In the poem titled “Above Reproach,” Robbins transforms this Genesis story into a poem where “God floats wistfully / with no place to rest his sphere.” After creating the earth and heavens and after several million years of God’s creation, a wise man asks: “Will it ever end?” To this, “God shrugs.”
In subsequent poems, this wistful God develops some unflattering personality traits, including in the poem “The Purging of Evil,” where “he, the Lord, refused to accept the idea that he had / made a mistake.” Of course, personification of God—flattering, scathing, or otherwise—as Robbins does is not a new device in poetry or literature. Since “no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:11 NIV), poets and authors can only speculate as Robbins does at God’s thoughts.
One of the more intriguing things Robbins does in this collection is to meld Old Testament passages with the modern world and use contemporary language in refashioning such passages into poetry. For example, Robbins brings his own background as a college professor into play in the poem “Sorrows,” which is inspired by Leviticus 16. In this poem, “a student unworthy of anyone’s time” is sacrificed “on the altar of / educational purity” and “The academic Lord might tenure” the professor who does so. In the poem “The Purge of Evil” based upon Deuteronomy 22, Robbins takes Aphrem from Tarsus and casts him into current society. Aphrem “decided he would be happier if he was a she. / So, he sold all his clothes at the market and bought new duds / from Walmart.” Following the dictates in Deuteronomy 22, Aphrem meets an unhappy end.
In his poem, “A Reflection,” based upon Psalms 137, Robbins connects the old with the new, admitting “We are surrounded by ancient times.” For those who do not recognize Psalms 137, it reads “Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the rock.” Robbins’ poem brings this horrifying notion into context of our violent times with this: “I hear others agreeing with a politician / who argues that we, you and I, should / strike and destroy our enemy’s families.” But then he asks: “Can I in good faith refuse to dash infants against rocks?”
One of the longest and most disturbing poems in the collection is titled “A Levite and his Concubine,” based upon Judges 19. There is a page-turning suspense quality in this poem, and the verse is well written. However, it is as dark and cruel a story as one might read in any modern crime fiction about a gang rape of an innocent young woman who dies from the abuse. No one in the poem seems to particularly care about her fate, which painfully illustrates how valueless women appeared to have been in that era. Robbins’ retelling of this story is powerful, but unsettling.
There is no question that—as the book jacket says—Robbins “brings these tales to life.” (quoting Libby Belle, author.) And, yes, as mentioned before, the sacrilegious vein that moves through The Book of Sorrows is bound to offend some. Yet the poems are fascinating, even if disquieting, and certainly provocative. The fact these are disquieting poems might well be their ultimate strength.
Kenneth Robbins
Robbins, who was born and reared in Douglasville, Georgia, and graduated from Young Harris College, Georgia Southern, and the University of Georgia, is the author of seven novels, including Buttermilk Bottoms, the recipient of the Toni Morrison Award and the Associated Writing Programs Novel Award. He is a playwright with fifty published plays including Atomic Field, the recipient of the Charles Getchell New Play Award, and Matchless, the recipient of the Festival of Southern Theatre Award. Currently he is a Professor Emeritus Liberal Arts, Louisiana Tech University.
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