{"id":10776,"date":"2016-12-30T03:30:27","date_gmt":"2016-12-30T10:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/goodletters\/?p=10776"},"modified":"2016-12-30T10:52:22","modified_gmt":"2016-12-30T17:52:22","slug":"poetry-friday-new-year-good-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/goodletters\/2016\/12\/poetry-friday-new-year-good-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry Friday: “New Year, Good Work”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"JustA delightful scene is set in this poem. At the start of the new year, the speaker and some friends are doing volunteer woodwork to repair their church\u2019s altar. As the speaker details the steps of their careful work, we\u2019re carried along by the poem\u2019s base rhythm of iambic pentameter. Soon religious language enters the speaker\u2019s account: as their sawdust fills the church, they feel their labor to be \u201csanctified,\u201d and the motions of their attentive work become a \u201critual.\u201d Though they\u2019re amateur carpenters, they strive for \u201csuch perfection \/ as can be achieved on this job, in this lifetime.\u201d Then, taking a break, they recall that their \u201cpatron in this place\u201d (who is Jesus, though he\u2019s not named) was a carpenter. But Jesus\u2019 carpentry immediately becomes symbolic. Paintings of him at work, \u201ca long shaving furled \/ round his wrist,\u201d holds in its grain \u201cthe meaning of life and death \/ and pretty much everything in between.\u201d As carpenter, they muse, could Jesus have made anything \u201cless then perfect?\u201d The scene then shifts, for the poem\u2019s final stanza, back to the church that the speaker and his friends are working in. \u201cThe incense of our craft\u201d will linger in the sanctuary during Sunday worship. And this, the speaker concludes, is all the payment they need: \u201can answered prayer for good work, done.\u201d This \u201cgood work,\u201d here and in the poem\u2019s title, carries a double meaning: it\u2019s work well done, but also morally good work\u2014like that of Jesus.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014Peggy Rosenthal<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cNew Year, Good Work,\u201d by John Terpstra<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The tools of the trade lay scattered on the floor
\nbelow the altar, migrating to its surface
\n(protected under plywood and a cloth tarp)
\nonly after the first few days, when the fine mist
\nof wood dust that settled over the pews and furnishings
\nhelped us to feel more at ease in this space
\nnow sanctified to our labor.
\nChurch interior as worksite.
\nI can think of worse ways to begin the year.<\/p>\n

Moving through the motions of ritual
\nattendance to table saw, miter saw
\nin mindful repetition, alert, thinking
\nonly of the blade, the cut, its closeness
\nto the mark, each length and angle made
\nto match another, to join in such perfection
\nas can be achieved on this job, in this lifetime.
\nAnd it\u2019s always fresh cut to fresh cut,
\nand there\u2019s something to that, but I can\u2019t think what.<\/p>\n

A question formed itself as we chewed cuds
\nat break time, prompted by the vaulted ceiling
\nand the heartfelt volunteer labor
\nof the two who started this project, who made
\nnot a complete botch, but thank God
\nhad no chainsaw handy to trim the wainscot.
\nThe question? Ah, yes: our patron in this place,
\nwas he a finish carpenter, or rough?<\/p>\n

A lot of fancy woodwork\u2019s been performed
\non his behalf. The romantic version has him
\nleaned over a plank, his two hands gripped
\non a bench plane, a long shaving furled
\nround his wrist: the scroll that we apprentice-priests
\nof woodcraft must uncurl, to read the grain
\nwherein lies hid the meaning of life and death
\nand pretty much everything in between.<\/p>\n

Did he enjoy the fine work or prefer
\nto hammer studs; to kiss that sixteenth of an inch,
\nor was close enough good enough?
\nWhat were his tolerances, professionally?
\nCould he make it less than perfect? Did he measure
\nonce? And how did he balance the desire to do it well
\nwith the need to get it done?<\/p>\n

These and other questions will be answered
\nSunday morning by his current rep,
\nwho\u2019ll stand behind the pulpit we\u2019ve restored,
\nafter we\u2019ve packed our tools and collected and swept
\nthe scraps and shavings and vacuumed up the dust.
\nAnd later we will hear that the incense of our craft
\nand labor lingered in the sanctuary air that day,
\nas answered prayer for good work, done\u2014
\nwhich is all we need to know, and answer enough.<\/p>\n

\"GL<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

John Terpstra<\/strong> is a poet whose most recent collection, Brilliant Falls<\/em>, won the Hamilton Literary\u00a0Award, and a nonfiction writer whose most recent work is The House with the Parapet Wall<\/em>(both\u00a0are from Gaspereau Press). He has been short-listed for both the Governor General\u2019s Award and\u00a0the Charles Taylor Prize and is, by trade, a furniture-maker.<\/p>\n

Above image by Just Bens Photos via flickr, used with permission under a Creative Commons License<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A delightful scene is set in this poem. At the start of the new year, the speaker and some friends are doing volunteer woodwork to repair their church\u2019s altar. As the speaker details the steps of their careful work, we\u2019re carried along by the poem\u2019s base rhythm of iambic pentameter. Soon religious language enters the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1081,"featured_media":10777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3822],"tags":[3904,3572,122,562,72],"class_list":["post-10776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-friday","tag-john-terpstra","tag-peggy-rosenthal","tag-poetry","tag-rituals","tag-work"],"yoast_head":"\nPoetry Friday: "New Year, Good Work"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A delightful scene is set in this poem. 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