Angel Unaware: Poems

By Victoria Carroll

Born in a writers' workshop in Ouray, Colorado, Angel Unaware presents human history as seen through the eyes of various personae. An angel whose assignment is to "observe" humanity writes from the viewpoint of a being who has no comprehension of what it is to be human, giving a unique view to our history. Interspersed throughout are poems from the perspectives of various characters, both Biblical and contemporary. Together the poems function to communicate faith.

Treating Biblical events with sincerity and respect, the poems explore the unity and logicality of a coherent and consistent world view. Phrases and images recur throughout to weave poems and sections together in order to express the sublime.

As literary poetry (a/k/a "academic" poetry, which is a rather stuffy-sounding term), the poems take various forms--sonnet, haiku, ballad, tercet, couplet, and prose poem, as well as other stanza variations and free verse forms. The uses of imagery, paradox, ambiguity, patterns of sound, and other devices serve to intensify the meaning and communication of experience.

From the introductory poems to the final ones, the reader should find poems that enlighten, delight, and possibly even shock, as characters, such as Eve, Bathsheba, and a servant-girl in Nero's court, are given voices to express their perception of events and circumstances.

As the poet Jeff Knorr writes, "When reading poetry, whether we're an experienced reader or not, one thing is certain: Poetry ought to move us [ . . . ] It might make us cry out loud over a page. It may move us to very simple and quiet contemplation of our own life [. . . ] And, poetry may turn us inside out without warning." May you react to these poems with any or all of these responses, and may you enjoy what you read.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781467044981

Victoria Carroll

Victoria Carroll (M.A., English, Creative Writing, Emporia State University) has taught poetry, literature, and composition at ESU, University of Kansas, and at Baker University School of Professional and Graduate Studies. Winner of the 2003 Word Journal Poetry Prize, she has published work in that journal, the Connecticut Review, Flint Hills Review, The Midwest Quarterly, and other journals. Also an accountant, she lives with her husband in rural east Kansas.

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Contents

Introduction

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Addendum

A Last Word

In loving memory

of my father and my mother,

whom I miss greatly

but will see again.

We have gone to the moon.

We have spoken to angels

of unspeakable matters …

—Vassar Miller,

Culture Shock

Introduction

At a touch of my hand

The air fills with delicate creatures

From the other world.

—James Wright,

Milkweed

An Angel Travels Across Human Time to Observe History Unfold

I. What I Observed Before the Current Assignment

Lucifer, clothed in music and light, cringed

when the Maker announced to the heavenly host and Spirit,

This is my Son. (We beheld one brighter than us all—

so bright, in fact, we had to shield our eyes.)

It wasn’t Lucifer to whom he pointed. I saw

the prince of angels wince, he whom we

had previously looked up to as our leader.

I saw his countenance grow dark, as though the stars

had fallen. His notes and chords discordant then,

I had to plug my ears lest I should hear

such disharmonious sound. And then a war

began. One third of my comrades sided with Lucifer,

convinced he’d win, appoint them to a throne.

They’re falling still—down,

and down,

and down.

II. Assignment: Earth

From lowest rank, my charge is simple: observe

the behavior of these new, human creatures, who

were made in my Master’s image, though (I think)

flawed. I find it odd the way they touch,

press their lips together, and moan. Their words

I understand. Although they don’t see me (made

of different stuff), they’re teaching me names of every

living creature: the dove has wings, the eagle,

the cockatoo; the kangaroo walks on two legs,

the cow and horse on four. What a host of diverse

breathing things! variety of flowers, bushes,

trees; and, oh! the air that carries scented

breeze from the greenest, most intriguing tree

of all—that one, in the garden’s very heart!

One

History, not wanted yet,

Lean’d on her elbow, watching Time, whose course,

Eventful, should supply her with a theme;

—William Cowper,

Yardley Oak

The Observing Angel Witnesses a Sudden Change

I

On temporal assignment from heaven’s regal place

and atmosphere, I found the surroundings here

at first to be quite pleasant. I perched beside

a river with four mouths; its babbling sound

reminded me of home, stilled and soothed my mood.

Watching those two was easy—they didn’t do much;

mostly they walked in the garden or merged into one.

So I ignored them, preferring to watch the animals.

Enthralled by the song of wrens in luscious trees,

I missed the one event that changed my lot—

or their lot, really—mine by occupation. Ranks

above me, two cherubim stood guard beside

the garden’s gate—and we—outside! barred

from feasting on the fragrant tree of life, whose scent

was peaches, pears, and apples all in bloom.

II

The humans were always talking about their sin

(which word itself means nothing I understand),

and how an offering of blood covers it.

I took a knife to my own skin one time

and found no fluid there, much less the red

liquid I see when lambs are slain. I’m like

the turnips and squash that Cain offered to God.

(I know because I sliced them when he left,

angry that God refused them, demanded blood.)

I’ll give you blood, I heard Cain think. I observed

him watch Abel’s fluid drain like sap

onto the well-plowed ground; then he planted him.

Was he trying to grow him back, or cover the deed?

Like those from Eden he was banished, but marked for life.

Eve’s Confession

I could tell

the fruit would taste delicious:

its smell

lingered in the perfect breeze

to tease

my hunger, my appetite for sweet

fruit, dripping

of juice. I hesitated a brief

spell like the falling

of a leaf. It was too great—

this promise

to know all things, to be

as God

in full command of all.

That call

seemed louder than his words.

For a moment

I forgot we