Mercy's Face by David Craig
"Mercy's Face" by David Craig is a poetry collection that reflects the author's deep Catholic faith through an exploration of divine mercy and grace. Born in 1951 in Berea, Ohio, Craig's varied life experiences, including his early jobs, inform his writing style and thematic choices. This collection includes selections from Craig's earlier works along with new poems that highlight his innovative approach to traditional themes of Christianity, particularly those related to the trials and triumphs of the soul's relationship with God.
The poems in "Mercy's Face" are characterized by their unique blend of traditional and experimental forms, employing a sound-sensitive free verse that enhances their lyrical quality. Thematically, Craig delves into the lives of saints, biblical interpretations, and personal reflections on faith, presenting a rich tapestry of imagery and emotion. His work resonates with readers across faiths due to its insightful portrayal of Catholicism, inviting exploration of the complexities of sainthood, spiritual struggles, and the pursuit of mercy.
Craig’s distinct voice and vivid imagery create an engaging reading experience that is both illuminating and accessible, making "Mercy's Face" a significant contribution to contemporary Catholic poetry. Through his reflections, Craig encourages readers to confront challenges in their spiritual lives, blending humor and humility with profound theological insights.
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Mercy's Face by David Craig
First published: Streubenville, Ohio: Franciscan University Press, 2000
Genre(s): Poetry
Subgenre(s): Lyric poetry
Core issue(s): Devotional life; good vs. evil; Jesus Christ; sainthood
Overview
David Craig was born in 1951 in Berea, Ohio. His variety of experiences growing up and making his way through the world led him to a revitalization of faith and a dedication to writing as a means of expressing it. His early jobs, such as driving a taxi, gave him solid experience for his first works. He received his M.F.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Bowling Green State University and took a position teaching creative writing at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. Along with his poetry, Craig has written essays and novels, all of which center on his Catholic faith.
This collection provides a selection of Craig’s earlier work and adds a section of new poems. His introduction clearly states his theme: “What seems to hold [these poems] together is an underlying awareness of God’s mercy, that and, to a lesser extent, the joy which so often accompanies Presence.” These strikingly original poems provide new insights into Christian views of mercy and grace. They are simultaneously traditional and experimental; their definition of Catholicism is traditional, but their forms, images, and syntax explore the possibilities of language in new ways.
The bulk of the poems in Mercy’s Face were selected from The Sandaled Foot (1980), Psalms (1982), Peter Maurin, and Other Poems (1985), Like Taxes: Marching Through Gaul (1989), Only One Face (1994), and The Roof of Heaven (1998). The last section of the book, “Road Work,” consists of new poems. Craig’s books are carefully themed; some of them reflect on saint’s lives and work, and others interpret the Bible or explore childhood experience as it relates to faith. Each of the poems in Mercy’s Face provides the feel of the book from which it came. Craig enters the lives and minds of holy people in sensitive portraits of Anna-Maria Taigi, Peter Maurin, Francis of Assisi, and Thérèse of Lisieux. His biblical explorations are moving and insightful. His poems of a rough and rowdy childhood ring with truth.
Craig’s poems use traditional and open styles—sonnet form, free verse, blank verse—but most of them are in a sound-sensitive free verse. Craig tends to write in sequences based on sacred sources: the words and works of a saint or the Bible itself. He makes language perform tricks—it clicks and clanks along unaccustomed grooves to provide each poem with a visual and aural texture. Nothing is worn about Craig’s work, and its glittering singularity focuses the mind on the meaning underneath. Syntax and image fuse, creating startling imagery of praise. In “Gospel Poem #1,” he addresses Jesus:
Come; take the owl from the pumpkin; march
The expression of praise is universal among Christian writers, but Craig’s words are packed with energy. His emphases or stresses seem to impel the lines forward—suggesting Gerard Manley Hopkins, perhaps, but a Hopkins who wrote in free verse.
The precision of observation together with the exact language sometimes results in a haiku-type effect, as in the beginning of “Apple Fools”:
Apple fools, we are,
The overall effect of Craig’s language is barely contained joy. The movement and images are so original that the work appeals to readers of other faiths, who will learn much about Catholicism from the well-researched saint poems as well as the more lyrical poems. Craig’s work is traditional Catholic theology and imagery touched by an individual sensibility and vision.
Christian Themes
Craig’s Mercy’s Face is poetry of adoration and of the trials and epiphanies of the individual soul. His biblical sonnet sequence is a devotion-filled, sustained work that interprets the Bible and helps apply it to modern times. The sonnets are lyrical pieces expressing adoration. Other poems detail the lives of the saints and the poet’s own spiritual struggles.
Craig’s themes include the phases of a soul’s relationship with God, like those of the Psalms of the Bible. He portrays the soul as cut off, struggling, pleading, reunited, and adoring. The emotions of each stage in the relationship are portrayed through vibrant images that echo as they transform the biblical images.
In his sequence on the Psalms, his open, honest poems follow the Psalms and interpret them in the journey of one man’s soul. Craig provides exegeses in his own Psalms that are sharply insightful, contemporary, and rich in images. He recasts the surface of the Psalms in ways that reflect our present lives. It is an enlightening experience to read the Psalms together with Craig’s poems based on them. Psalm 6 in the English Standard Version of the Bible begins:
O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,
Craig experiences the words in this way.
Do not punish me, do not
His response provides an unusual but insightful definition of “punish”—to seal the soul and not to allow change, the gift of grace. The troubled syntax reflects his troubled soul.
Craig explores the nature of sainthood and holy living. The unofficial hagiographies provide glimpses into the reality of sainthood, and the poet fleshes out lines in the saints’ histories. Craig depicts the saints as human beings struggling with the same temptations and worldly desires as everyone else; how the saints thought and felt becomes real in Craig’s portrayals. Craig’s work prompts readers to explore saints on their own, trying to find not just the facts but also the spirit of their lives and thereby redefining the nature of sainthood.
The responsibilities of the Christian are also a part of Craig’s subject matter. Requirements for the right life are presented straight, with no glossing over of their difficulty. Mercy is always available, but contrition is required, and sins are sins—they cannot be defined away, but must be faced and repented. In his attitude toward the Christian life, Craig resembles C. S. Lewis.
Craig’s work helps to define contemporary Catholic poetry. Its lyric beauty, narrative integrity, and ever-present luminous faith provide a reading experience that will enlighten Christian readers and enhance their understanding of faith. Its good humor and humility add to its appeal.
Many of the poems are poems of difficulty and praise. However obstacle-filled the journey is, the soul has been equipped to sense God. Grace strikes the fire of joy and light from the rock of reality. These are straightforwardly Christian and Catholic poems of theological and intellectual subtlety. They will rightly find places in both academic and devotional anthologies.
Sources for Further Study
Craig, David. The Cheese Stands Alone. Oak Lawn, Ill.: CMJ Marian, 2003. Clear and inspiring novel by the poet shows another view of his way of applying faith to life and provides an entry into the poems.
“David A. Craig.” Contemporary Authors Online. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale, 2007. A brief description of the poet’s life and works.
Impastato, David. Upholding Mystery: An Anthology of Contemporary Christian Poetry. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Craig’s poetry is placed among top American religious poetry in this anthology, which also provides a good introduction to the subject.
McCann, Janet. Review of Mercy’s Face. St. Anthony Messenger 19, no. 10 (March, 2002) 52-54. A review/analysis of Mercy’s Face, especially in regard to its Christian themes.