The Bronze Serpent: Liturgical Poems 1975–2014

By Edward Lense and Paul-Henri Bourguignon

Deeply interested in theology but never satisfied with the commonplaces of faith, Edward Lense wrote liturgical poems that delve into the meaning of belief. Both free verse and formalist, they employ biblical imagery such as transformative fire, living water, spiritual cleansing, and certainty of salvation to reveal their importance for modern times. Following the tradition of Milton, Donne, George Herbert, and T. S. Eliot, the poet tells of no easy principle of acceptance but the epiphany of revelation after searching.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Jul 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666770940

Book preview

The Bronze Serpent

Liturgical Poems 1975–2014

by

Edward Lense

edited by

Deborah Fleming

illustrations by

Paul-Henri Bourguignon

Acknowledgements

Journals

Lost and Found Times: Wrath

Collections

Via Crucis: The Way of the Cross, a Human Pilgrimage: poems in Via Crucis

Table of Contents

Title Page

Acknowledgements

Editor’s Introduction

I. Liturgical Poems

The Young Man in Gethsemane

The Dream of the Rood

Wind

The Tower of Babel

Shepherds

St. Stephen

Palms

Caedmon’s Hymn

Flames

Salome

Waking

The Easy Yoke

The Parable of the Thorns

The Three Wise Men

A Man Speaking with Authority

The Road to Emmaus

The Man Born Blind

Loaves and Fishes

The Road to Damascus

St. Thomas

The Cup That I Drink

Jordan

Lady Day, March 25

Living Water

Rising

Easter Dawn

The Bronze Serpent

Lazarus

Legion

Jonah

Who Shall Be First?

II. Put Your Hand on Compost

Envy

Wrath

Avarice

Sloth

Gluttony

Lechery

Pride

III. Via Crucis: The Way of the Cross

Corpus Christi

I. Pilate

II. The Cross

III. First Fall

IV. Mary

V. Simon of Cyrene

VI. Veronica

VII. Second Fall

VIII. The Women of Jerusalem

IX. Third Fall

X. Naked

XI. Nailed to the Cross

XII. Crucified

XIII. Dead

XIV. Buried

About the Editor

Editor’s Introduction

Edward Lense was a well-known poet and accomplished photographer in the Columbus, Ohio, arts community from the 1970s until his death in 2014. Having earned his Bachelor of Arts from New York University in 1969 and Doctor of Philosophy from Ohio State University in 1975, he worked as professor of English at Columbus College of Art and Design from 1976 to 2007 and served as advisor to the college’s annual student magazine Botticelli (1976–2000). A long-time member of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, he also served as deacon at St. Cyprian’s Reformed Catholic Church in Columbus. His frequent readings were well-attended, he was a three-time Ohio Arts Council Award winner in poetry and criticism, and he reviewed books for Ohioana Quarterly. Although best-known as a poet, he also wrote three novels, short stories, a textbook on writing poetry, a libretto, meditations, and homilies. He translated poetry from Anglo-Saxon and collaborated with visual artists. His published scholarship and criticism include work on W. B. Yeats, James Wright, Robert Bly, Theodore Roethke, O. Henry, J. R.