{"id":153,"date":"2014-01-05T21:08:03","date_gmt":"2014-01-06T02:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/?p=153"},"modified":"2014-01-05T21:09:58","modified_gmt":"2014-01-06T02:09:58","slug":"review-of-the-storehouses-of-snow-psalms-parables-and-dreams-by-philip-memmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/?p=153","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Storehouses of Snow: Psalms, Parables and Dreams by Philip Memmer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Memmer<\/a><\/p>\n

Philip Memmer. The Storehouses of Snow: Psalms, Parables and Dreams. <\/i>Lost Horse Press. 2012. 67 pgs. $15.<\/p>\n

Reviewed by Lynn Domina<\/p>\n

We\u2019re fine with dreams, most of us, but who will say what a psalm is, or what a parable does? Psalms in the Bible, of course, address God and are often attributed to King David; sometimes they curse enemies, and sometimes they praise creation. Sometimes the speaker moans about his sorry state before cursing enemies or praising creation. Parables seem to be straightforward enough, once we\u2019ve read Jesus\u2019 explanation\u2014but then sometimes we take another look and say hey, wait a minute. There are other interpretations too. Parables are slippery creatures, never quite securely within our grasp. And along with its psalms and parables, the Bible is full of dreams, though not the kind of dreams we describe today. Biblical dreams are never silly; they\u2019re often seeking an interpreter; they\u2019re always prophetic. So what is Philip Memmer doing in his fourth collection, The Storehouses of Snow<\/i>, whose contents consist entirely of pieces labeled \u201cdream,\u201d \u201cpsalm,\u201d or \u201cparable\u201d?<\/p>\n

When I read Memmer\u2019s Lucifer: A Hagiography <\/i>a few years ago, I was astonished. He\u2019d taken a character I thought I knew well enough\u00a0 and revised him sympathetically. Although he provocatively called that book a hagiography, it also reads like an extended parable, for it is a story we want to keep turning over in our minds, understanding more and differently each time. The Storehouses of Snow <\/i>is equally rewarding, though structured very differently. It begins with a piece called \u201cPsalm\u201d that functions as a preface, then contains eight sections, each consisting of three parts, a \u201cPsalm,\u201d a \u201cDream,\u201d and a \u201cParable,\u201d not always in the same order. Between sections four and five, he places another single \u201cPsalm,\u201d and the collection concludes with another \u201cPsalm.\u201d Each of these pieces takes our conventional notions of the form and adapts it to a 21st<\/sup> century psyche, inevitably informed by at least as much skepticism as belief.<\/p>\n

The opening psalm challenges us to consider the relationship between ourselves and our belief\u2014perhaps the two words, \u201cself\u201d and \u201cbelief,\u201d are after all just synonyms; perhaps the symbol that links them is just an equal sign. Or perhaps it\u2019s desire that corresponds to belief, and meaning is simply projected desire. This psalm consists of three short stanzas (every poem in the book relies on this pattern of tercets, an opening line followed by two indented lines). I\u2019ll quote the second two stanzas: \u201cI can tell myself I see you, \/ until I realize \/ that I face you \/\/ with both eyes shut, and the dazzle \/ I might have called truth <\/i>is \/ my own bright blood.\u201d As a preface, this poem seems to warn us not to put too much faith in, well, faith. Such would seem to be the end of it, if the entire book that follows didn\u2019t also address this \u201cyou.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the psalms here invite consideration, discussion, pondering. They include memorable lines: \u201cBecause you are always ceasing \/ to be, and then ceasing \/ to cease to be\u201d and \u201cHow, Lord, could you have created \/ a creature such as me, \/ enamored with \/\/ (of all the things here in this world) \/ the freshness of a field \/ of new asphalt?\u201d and \u201clooking down \/ through December \/\/ to this one mystery floating \/ so cheerfully towards \/ its own melting\u2026,\u201d this last from the title poem. Their language both replicates Biblical language and reads as entirely contemporary.<\/p>\n

The poems that intrigue me most, however, are the parables. They captivate as riddles do, each solution a surprise. In one, a row of houses is broken into by thieves. The parable begins with a generalized situation, as parables are prone to do: \u201cThere was a street.\u201d The first two thieves do what we expect thieves to do\u2014they break windows and locks, hunting for valuables. But they leave empty handed because they find nothing of interest. The third thief, however, walks in through an open door and claims the house as his own. And then, the poem concludes, \u201clike this man\u2014and though \/ you will always \/\/ be a thief in your heart\u2014you must \/ find the kingdom empty, \/ then make it yours.\u201d Perhaps this parable reflects the opening psalm, in which we see only our own blood but call it glorious. Even so, this parable suggests that we can make a kingdom of emptiness. The poem is as successful as it is because the final turn, beginning in the penultimate stanza, transforms it from a simple story to an invitation to perceive ourselves anew, with understanding and compassion. In the final parable in the book, three voices sit before a teller, each voice hoping for favor. They are Lie, Truth, and Story. The teller lies on his deathbed, and distinctions among the three voices fade. After the teller does die, the three share his heart: \u201cfor the last time, \/ in their terrible greed, \/ they devoured it.\u201d But before this moment, when the three notice that the teller has died, they interpret the event according to their own preferences: \u201cHe\u2019s better off, <\/i>sighed Lie. \/ And in his sleep, <\/i>\/\/ smiled Truth. Story said nothing\u2026\u201d But Story does say something eventually, \u201cThere once \/ was a man\u2026\u201d Story seems to have the last word, converting the teller into a story, one that resembles a parable in its opening. Is every story a parable, every last word a riddle? Perhaps. We are left to make our own kingdoms of\u2014no, not emptiness\u2014but language, which insists on meaning.<\/p>\n

As for the dreams, they too are provocative. I encourage you to read the book and discover them for yourselves.<\/p>\n

——————–<\/p>\n

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Philip Memmer. The Storehouses of Snow: Psalms, Parables and Dreams. Lost Horse Press. 2012. 67 pgs. $15. Reviewed by Lynn Domina We\u2019re fine with dreams, most of us, but who will say what a psalm is, or what a parable does? Psalms in the Bible, of course, address God and are often attributed to King […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-areviewaweek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions\/157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}