{"id":8975,"date":"2015-11-13T01:00:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T08:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/goodletters\/?p=8975"},"modified":"2016-05-12T13:28:30","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T20:28:30","slug":"poetry-friday-mixed-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/goodletters\/2015\/11\/poetry-friday-mixed-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry Friday: “Mixed Company” by Brett Foster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"lastsupper\"<\/a>Each Friday at Good Letters we feature a poem from the pages of\u00a0Image<\/em>, selected and introduced by one of our writers or readers.<\/p>\n

The much-beloved poet and teacher Brett Foster passed away earlier this week and so I\u2019d like to dedicate \u201cPoetry Friday\u201d to his memory. Image published quite a few of Brett\u2019s poems and the one I\u2019ve chosen to talk about is \u201cMixed Company.\u201d I chose it because while many of Brett\u2019s poems exemplify an elegant formalism (in part deriving from his deep knowledge of Renaissance literature), this one shows him to be in a more informal, colloquial mood. With its short lines and dramatic soliloquy form, \u201cMixed Company\u201d offers a vivid glimpse into the second chapter of the gospel of Mark. Like those medieval or Renaissance paintings that placed biblical stories in contemporary settings, this poem begins by talking about a coffee shop. There\u2019s some fun as Brett plays with the meaning of the poem\u2019s title (and don\u2019t you just love \u201cthe \u2018meh\u2019 of our behaviors \/ or consistent confusions\u201d?). Having disoriented us with the coffee shop reference, Brett suckers us in to the perspective of one of the disciples, who is grateful for the way Jesus accepts him (and his fellow \u201csinners\u201d). The speaker realizes that something Jesus has told them might be considered insulting, but instead he finds it liberating. In Brett\u2019s deft handling, simple language gains unexpected resonance and power: \u201cI found \/ myself happy to be allowed \/<\/em>
\nto stay there.\u201d I believe Brett did find a place to \u201cstay\u201d on this earth and I trust that he\u2019s found it even more truly now.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014Gregory Wolfe<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cMixed Company\u201d by Brett Foster<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mark 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Meaning, not the fey name
\nof a coffee shop cheekily named,
\nbut me and the sinners
\n(not \u201cmixed\u201d as in unlike things
\ncommingling, but rather
\nthe \u201cmeh\u201d of our behaviors
\nor consistent confusions,
\ncontradictions like breaking
\nnews ongoing, over and over
\nwith little new to report\u2026)
\nas I was saying, me and sinners
\nand tax collectors, resorting
\nto the healer\u2019s home most nights
\nsince Levi from the tollbooth
\nintroduced us all. That one night
\nhe delicately explained how lately
\nthe holier-than-thous
\nwho police our community
\nwere increasingly complaining
\nof our all hanging out.
\nWe half expected to be gently
\nasked to leave at that point.
\nI mean, I think we would
\nhave mainly understood it.
\nYou\u2019ll appreciate with me, then,
\nhow surprised and pleased
\nwe felt that this wasn\u2019t
\nthe case or the result
\nof his telling us this, not
\nat all. \u201cIt\u2019s sick people who need
\na doctor, not healthy ones,\u201d
\nhe said, smiling. Thinking
\nof it now, it\u2019s sort of insulting,
\nbut that\u2019s not how we heard it.
\nThey were comforting
\nwords instead, and I found
\nmyself happy to be allowed
\nto stay there, just nodding,
\nnodding vigorously,
\nat the sound of those words.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brett Foster<\/strong>\u00a0is the author of two poetry collections,\u00a0<\/span>The Garbage Eater<\/em>\u00a0(Triquarterly \/Northwestern) and<\/span>Fall Run Road,<\/em>\u00a0which was awarded Finishing Line Press\u2019s 2012 Open Chapbook Prize. A third collection,<\/span>Extravagant Rescues,<\/em>\u00a0is forthcoming. His writing has appeared in\u00a0<\/span>Books & Culture, Boston Review, Hudson Review, Kenyon Review, Poetry Daily, Raritan, Southwest Review,<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Yale Review<\/em>. He teaches creative writing and Renaissance literature at Wheaton College.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each Friday at Good Letters we feature a poem from the pages of\u00a0Image, selected and introduced by one of our writers or readers. The much-beloved poet and teacher Brett Foster passed away earlier this week and so I\u2019d like to dedicate \u201cPoetry Friday\u201d to his memory. Image published quite a few of Brett\u2019s poems and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1045,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1955,422,1956,75,274,194,1957,122,1945,507,88],"class_list":["post-8975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-greg-wolfe","tag-brett-foster","tag-community","tag-disciples","tag-friendship","tag-gregory-wolfe","tag-jesus-christ","tag-mixed-company","tag-poetry","tag-poetry-friday","tag-sickness","tag-sin"],"yoast_head":"\nPoetry Friday: "Mixed Company" by Brett Foster<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Each Friday at Good Letters we feature a poem from the pages of\u00a0Image, selected and introduced by one of our writers or readers. 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