Mission Work

Paperback

Baker, Aaron , Plumly, Stanley 저자(글)

Houghton Mifflin · 2011년 12월 01일

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AARON BAKER is the winner of the 2007 Katharine Bakeless Nason Prize for poetry, selected by Stanley Plumly and awarded by Middlebury College and the Bread Loaf Writersrs" Conference. A former Wallace Stegner Fellow, Baker received his MFA at the University of Virginia. His work has been previously published in the Virginia Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, Post Road, and Poetry, among other publications. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, and teaches at Hollins University.bull; A vibrant debut collection from the winner of the 2007 Bread Loaf Writersrs" Conference Bakeless Prizebull; In this prize-winning collection, the poet evokes his childhood as the son of missionaries in Papua New Guineabull; Foreword by Stanley Plumly
Stanley Plumly is a contributor for Houghton Mifflin Company titles including: "Mission Work".
Aaron Baker teaches at Hollins University.
CHIMBU WEDDING When the villagers stake out a hundred pigs and two men wade in with clubs, watch how they float, cold as light out of heaven, above the scene. When the pigs scream and buckle with their skulls caved in, remember that not one thing in this world will be spared. Not one leaf. Not one hair on a child's head. See the women hauling rocks to the fire-pits, the boys kneeling to collect blood in banana leaves, and think of St. Peter's vision: cloven-hoofed creatures descending on a sheet, the sky saying "Take, eat." Learn to sit in the smoke with hunger sated as children play with bladders they've inflated like balloons. Learn a new language for fellowship, and when you walk home through the fields see if you can translate the gloam-wrapped mountain's whisper as Come. Then, if there is a place prepared for the saints, you will know which way to turn at the crossroads. You will not trouble the angel at the garden gate for a way past her sword. You will not remember what blood washed you clean. CARGO CULT See how this works: I'm a dead boy come over the water. Skin pale since it's bloodless, hair bleached blond by the sun of an unforested country, I bring good blades and fine cloth. My voice is strange music and I want nothing of yours. There's health in my touch. Eat the bread, drink the blood and the sea, which for so long delivered only upcoast coconuts, handfuls of shells for charms, and scraps of meat that lay in the froth SECOND GENESIS Bees float in the frangipanis behind the chapel. The day's wash hangs limp on the line. Meugle's father has gone to battle, mine to set the Bible against the bow and spear. We train a telescope on the hills. Women move slowly through the fields. I see, says Meugle, the Dagle Mitna sitting on their shields, my father and Apa drawing arrows in the brush. I lean in for a look, see in the circle of light a woman bowed over her garden. Yes, I say, your father has killed a man. Meugle nods, his thoughts more distant from me than our fathers. I see beside the woman a naked child weaving garlands out of grass. * * * Will you find me where I'm hid? Have angels finished wrestling in these fields? Our battle is not against flesh and blood - I palm the black book. You notch your arrow. Our fathers are at war with our brothers. We'll be a single son of this country when each has killed half of the other. * * * Flight through the rain-streaked half-light, thick splatter on fronds. The pig crashes through the underbrush, frayed rope snaking after him. I snort, slip in the mud, scramble head-first through brambles and vines, then rise in the clearing where Meugle lifts the pig, snout gripped shut by a fist. Pulsing at my throat, my life. Meugle kneels to use the knife. * * * In the game of war, our spears are stalks of fern. I lie in the hillside grass and take my turn as a sleeping sentry. Even in play, I feel a sudden fear of his dark shape on the sky. When he strikes, I writhe and die around my wound. He shouts, raises his spear. When I rise, he wipes grass seeds from my shoulders and hair. * * * Smells of woodsmoke and sweat fill the cool of the hut. Meugle's wet face glows over the fire. He rolls a sweet potato from the embers with a stick, touches my shin with its still-warm tip - Ene Yegwa, yours. I hold the potato in both hands, decide it's my heart, that I will keep it hot as long as I can. He frowns, touches me again with the stick. I peel the black skin from the soft white meat. When Meugle smiles, my throat gluts with thanks. * *
In this prize-winning collection, a debut poet evokes his childhood as the son of missionaries in Papua New Guinea. Mission Work is an arresting collection of poems based on Aaron Baker's experiences as a child of missionaries living among the Kuman people in the remote Chimbu Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Rich with Christian and Kuman myths and stories, the poems explore Western and tribal ways of looking at the world -- an interface of vastly different cultures and notions of spirituality, illuminated by the poet's own struggles as he comes of age in this unique environment. The images conjured in Mission Work are viscerally stirring: native people slaughter pigs for a Chimbu wedding ceremony; a papery flight of cicadas cuts through a cloud forest; hands sting as they beat a drum made of dried snakeskin. Quieter moments are shot through with the unfamiliar as well. In "Bird of Paradise," a father angles his son's head toward the canopy of the jungle so the boy can catch sight of an elusive bird. Stanley Plumly, this year's guest judge, writes, "How rare to find precision and immersion so alive in the same poetry. Aaron Baker's pressure on his language not only intensifies and elevates his memories of Papuan 'mission work,' it transforms it back into something very like his original childhood experience. Throughout this remarkably written and felt first book, the reader, like the author himself, 'can't tell if this is white or black magic,'Christian, tribal, or both at once."
In this prize-winning collection, a debut poet evokes his childhood as the son of missionaries in Papua New Guinea. Mission Work is an arresting collection of poems based on Aaron Baker's experiences as a child of missionaries living among the Kuman people in the remote Chimbu Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Rich with Christian and Kuman myths and stories, the poems explore Western and tribal ways of looking at the world -- an interface of vastly different cultures and notions of spirituality, illuminated by the poet's own struggles as he comes of age in this unique environment. The images conjured in Mission Work are viscerally stirring: native people slaughter pigs for a Chimbu wedding ceremony; a papery flight of cicadas cuts through a cloud forest; hands sting as they beat a drum made of dried snakeskin. Quieter moments are shot through with the unfamiliar as well. In "Bird of Paradise," a father angles his son's head toward the canopy of the jungle so the boy can catch sight of an elusive bird. Stanley Plumly, this year's guest judge, writes, "How rare to find precision and immersion so alive in the same poetry. Aaron Baker's pressure on his language not only intensifies and elevates his memories of Papuan 'mission work,' it transforms it back into something very like his original childhood experience. Throughout this remarkably written and felt first book, the reader, like the author himself, ?an't tell if this is white or black magic,' Christian, tribal, or both at once."
Mission Work is an arresting collection of poems based on Aaron Baker's experiences as a child of missionaries living among the Kuman people in the remote Chimbu Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Rich with Christian and Kuman myths and stories, the poems explore Western and tribal ways of looking at the world-an interface of vastly different cultures and notions of spirituality, illuminated by the poet's own struggles as he comes of age in this unique environment.The images conjured in Mission Work are viscerally stirring: natives slaughter pigs for a Chimbu wedding ceremony; a cloud of mosquitoes moves through a slender ray of sunlight; hands sting as they beat a drum made of dried snakeskin. Quieter moments are shot through with the unfamiliar as well. In "Bird of Paradise," a father angles his son's head toward the canopy of the jungle to catch sight of an elusive bird.Stanley Plumly, this year's judge for the Bakeless poetry prize, states, "Throughout this remarkably written and felt first book, the reader, like the author himself, 'can't tell if this is white or black magic,' Christian, tribal, or both at once."
Mission Work is an arresting collection of poems based on Aaron Baker's experiences as a child of missionaries living among the Kuman people in the remote Chimbu Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Rich with Christian and Kuman myths and stories, the poems explore Western and tribal ways of looking at the world-an interface of vastly different cultures and notions of spirituality, illuminated by the poet's own struggles as he comes of age in this unique environment.The images conjured in Mission Work are viscerally stirring: natives slaughter pigs for a Chimbu wedding ceremony; a cloud of mosquitoes moves through a slender ray of sunlight; hands sting as they beat a drum made of dried snakeskin. Quieter moments are shot through with the unfamiliar as well. In Bird of Paradise, a father angles his son's head toward the canopy of the jungle to catch sight of an elusive bird.Stanley Plumly, this year's judge for the Bakeless poetry prize, states, Throughout this remarkably written and felt first book, the reader, like the author himself, 'can't tell if this is white or black magic,' Christian, tribal, or both at once.
"Aaron Baker's extraordinary journey in poems . . . has the power to awaken us all to the deep strangeness of being alive." --Gregory Orr
"How rare to find precision and immersion so alive in the same poetry . . . remarkably written and felt." --Stanley Plumly
"It is the encounter betweenan adult imagination . . . finding the child again which makes this work both compelling and moving." --Eavan Boland
"Richly textured and self-confident . . . MISSION WORK is a haunting and powerful debut." --David Wojahn
"Wildly beautiful . . . Aaron Baker has written his own creation myth and discovered an original voice." --Carol Muske-Dukes
"Wildly beautiful . . . Aaron Baker has written his own creation myth and discovered an original voice." --Carol Muske-Dukes "Richly textured and self-confident . . . MISSION WORK is a haunting and powerful debut." --David Wojahn "Aaron Baker's extraordinary journey in poems . . . has the power to awaken us all to the deep strangeness of being alive." --Gregory Orr "It is the encounter between an adult imagination . . . finding the child again which makes this work both compelling and moving." --Eavan Boland "How rare to find precision and immersion so alive in the same poetry . . . remarkably written and felt." --Stanley Plumly
Foreword ix Chimbu Wedding 3 Notebook 4 Commission 7 Cargo Cult 12 Bones 13 Blood Debt 15 Bird of Paradise 16 The Taban Tree 17 Second Genesis 18 Sing-sing Kiama 21 Spirits of the Low Ground 22 The Red Snake 23 Bride Price 26 The Weaver 27 The Zero in the Branches 28 How Do You Like Your Blue-Eyed Boy? 29 Departures 33 Taro 39 Read and Say Nothing 41 Albino 42 A Prayer 43 Above Kerowagi 44 War 46 Evil Spirit 47 In Guru Woods 48 Darkness Legend 49 Ditowagle 50 The Day and the Hour 51 The Last Way 52 Highlands Highway 54 Highlands Mission 55 Notes 59 Acknowledgments 61

작가정보

저자(글) Baker, Aaron

저자(글) Plumly, Stanley

American poet Stanley Plumly has taught English at University of Maryland, College Park's creative writing program. Raised in Ohio, he helped found the Ohio Review while teaching at Ohio University, where he earned his M.A.

목차

• Foreword	p. ix
  Chimbu Wedding	p. 3
  Notebook	p. 4
  Commission	p. 7
  Cargo Cult	p. 12
  Bones	p. 13
  Blood Debt	p. 15
  Bird of Paradise	p. 16
  The Taban Tree	p. 17
  Second Genesis	p. 18
  Sing-sing Kiama	p. 21
  Spirits of the Low Ground	p. 22
  The Red Snake	p. 23
  Bride Price	p. 26
  The Weaver	p. 27
  The Zero in the Branches	p. 28
  How Do You Like Your Blue-Eyed Boy?	p. 29
  Departures	p. 33
  Taro	p. 39
  Read and Say Nothing	p. 41
  Albino	p. 42
  A Prayer	p. 43
  Above Kerowagi	p. 44
  War	p. 46
  Evil Spirit	p. 47
  In Guru Woods	p. 48
  Darkness Legend	p. 49
  Ditowagle	p. 50
  The Day and the Hour	p. 51
  The Last Way	p. 52
  Highlands Highway	p. 54
  Highlands Mission	p. 55
  Notes	p. 59
  Acknowledgments	p. 61
  Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

기본정보

ISBN	9780618982677 ( 0618982671 )
발행(출시)일자	2011년 12월 01일
쪽수	80쪽
크기	158 * 226 * 6 mm / 132 g
총권수	1권
언어	영어