Smothered with Inexhaustible Mercy: An Anthology of Poems

By Mark G. Boyer

Smothered with Inexhaustible Mercy: An Anthology of Poems represents almost fifty years of well-known spiritual master Mark G. Boyer's poetry writing. After writing seventy books of prose on spirituality and history, he has collected over two hundred of his poems and divided them into nineteen chapters (collections). You will find poems on Alaska, Christmas, Colorado, day and night, Easter, friendship, ocean, seasons, wind and rain, and more. Over the years, a few were published in now out-of-print journals, magazines, newspapers, and books, but most are taken from his handwritten files and organized according to themes, arranged alphabetically in this book. The poetry lover will find a variety of styles, rhythm, and length in this collection of poems that delve into the insight of things and people, because there is also more than what is at first perceived. As the title indicates, the author hopes that this book of poems smothers the reader with inexhaustible mercy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Mar 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666768787

Mark G. Boyer

Mark G. Boyer, a well-known spiritual master, has been writing books on biblical, liturgical, and devotional spirituality for over fifty years. He has authored seventy previous books, including two books of history and one novel. His work prompts the reader to recognize the divine in everyday life. This is his thirtieth Wipf and Stock title.

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Introduction

This book’s contents represent almost fifty years of my poetry writing. In his novel The Farmer’s Son , John Connell writes, . . . [A] book is not born overnight. I chose that line for one of the epigrams for this book because it has taken almost fifty years for this book to be born. After writing hundreds of poems, I decided to gather them together and sift through them for recurring themes. I am a published poet ¹ and was so long before I began to publish prose (books). ² Out of the many sheets in my files containing scribbled poems, I have chosen some that I think are better than others. A few were published in the past in now out-of-print journals, magazines, newspapers, and books. Some have never been typed until now. For ease of publication, I have grouped this collection of poems into nineteen subcategories, which have to do with the topic or theme of the poems contained therein or with the place where the poems were written. The subcategories are not absolutes; some poems fit into more than one subcategory than the one I have chosen for them. In general, the chapters are arranged alphabetically by subcategory, and the subcategories are arranged alphabetically by poem title. Because Microsoft Word alphabetizes using An and The in the title of a poem and filing the title under A and T, I have left those poem titles beginning with An in the A section of subcategories and those poem titles beginning with The in the T section of subcategories. The subcategories present a selection of poems I have written over the years; they are not exhaustive of all the hundreds of poems I have jotted on paper. In other words, the subcategories represent a sample of poems in the specific subcategory genre. I have also provided a brief introduction to each chapter (subcategory) at the beginning to give context to the reader for the subcategory, instead of providing it here and causing the reader to have to flip back and forth through the book.

A poem, according to Encarta: World English Dictionary, is a complete and self-contained piece of writing in verse that is set out in lines of a particular length and uses rhythm, imagery, and often rhyme to achieve its effect. I advise the reader to keep in mind that definition, because it best explains what I have attempted to do in a poem. I use various styles for my poems; some are in free verse, some are measured in syllables, and some employ rhyme. I like using nouns as verbs because such a move can jar the reader into grasping something new. Thus, the reader is hereby notified that saying an unrecognized word aloud may help to understand what I am attempting to communicate. For example, in one poem I use the noun comma as a verb, which becomes commaed. Such nouns-become-verbs are not spelled wrong (as Microsoft Word keeps telling me!); they are nouns with which I have taken poetic license to turn them into verbs. My goal in scribbling a poem on a piece of paper is to delve into the insight of things and people. There is always more than what is first perceived. For example, in the first chapter, the Alaskan Collection, there is more to a glacier than the pile of snow, ice, rock, etc. that slides down the mountain to the ocean. By comparing it to a sled, I hope the reader understands a little about that something more, even though he or she may have never seen a glacier. In the second epigram, I quote Mark Matousek’s Lessons from Master Survivors, an essay which appeared in the September/October 2022 issue of Spirituality and Health magazine: Being alive is a risky business. Not only is being alive a risky business, but writing and publishing poetry is a risky business! It is risky because a poem’s depth may be missed by the reader because of the reader’s context or lack of the same or similar experience as the poem’s author.

Thus, I have titled this collection of poems Smothered with Inexhaustible Mercy: An Anthology of Poems. The title comes from Eugene H. Peterson’s The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. In the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) book of Daniel, there is found the Prayer of Azariah, which is considered part of the apocrypha in some bibles. In Azariah’s Prayer, there are these words: Blessed are you, O Lord, . . . Treat us the way you always have; massage us with your usual gentility; smother us with your inexhaustible mercy (Dan 3:26a, 42b). Azariah asks God to massage his people with his refinement, that is, his courteous and well-mannered behavior, according to Encarta. God is also asked to smother, that is, to overwhelm with affection (Encarta) his people with his inexhaustible, that is, everlasting, mercy, that is, compassion, kindness, or forgiveness. In other words, Azariah asks God to treat his people, who have gone into Babylonia captivity, by not giving them what they deserve, but, rather, to smother them with kindness! My hope is that you, the reader, will find the poems in this book smothering you with inexhaustible mercy.

—Mark G. Boyer

1. Color-Us in ch. 17 was first published in Probe, a publication of St. Meinrad School of Theology, St. Meinrad, IN, 10:2 (September 21, 1972) 7. "Life Waiting in ch. 7 was also first published in Probe, 10:14 (January 11, 1973) 5. Amen! Colorado in ch 4 was first published in Voices International, a now out-of-print quarterly poetry journal 13:3 (Fall 1978) 24. Wind in ch. 19 was also published in Voices International 13:3 (Fall 1978) 24. Breaking Dawn in ch. 5 was published in the National Poetry Anthology 1979, Agoura, CA: National Poetry Press, 67, as was Grand Canyon Ball in ch. 12, National Poetry Anthology 1980, Agoura, CA: National Poetry Press, 78. Mountain Morning in ch. 16 first appeared in the Poetry Corner of The Joplin Globe: Ozarks Today (October 4, 1981) 17. Oklahoma Sunrise in ch. 5 was first published in the National Poetry Anthology 1981, Agoura CA: National Poetry Press, 116. Ship in ch. 13 was first published in Voices International 17:1 (Spring 1982) 12, as were Minnie McSherry I in ch. 10, 17:2 (Summer 1982) 15, Adolescence also in ch. 10, 17:3 (Fall 1982) 2, and Great Sand Dunes in ch. 4, 17:4 (Winter 1982) 19. Feet in ch. 15 was first published in The Mirror, the newspaper of the Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Springfield, MO, 18:47 (March 25, 1983) 3. Shopping for Life in ch. 12, Cockcrow in ch. 7, and Spill the Goblet! in ch. 10 were published in Winged Lion, a publication of Missouri Southern State University, Joplin, MO, 12 (Spring 1983) 2, 10, 23. The Crucifier in ch. 15 was first published in National Poetry Anthology 1982–1983, Agoura, CA: National Poetry Press, 66. The Transfigured Cross in ch. 15 was first published in Our Western World’s Greatest Poems, Sacramento, CA: World of Poetry Press, 1983, 24. An Old Barn in ch. 12 was published January 4, 1985, in The Joplin Globe’s Poetry Corner, 3B. The same newspaper also published Introspect in ch. 14 on March 15, 1985, 3B, and Seasons of Mother in ch. 17 on April 5, 1985, 6D. Morning Fog in ch. 3 was first published by The Daily News’ "Over the Ozarks . . . in