Hey Lizz,
I wrote a review for this poem in the reviewing workshop and then went ahead and forgot to post it. Sorry that it is a bit very disjointed.
Use of Metaphor
So first I'm going to take a look at the main metaphors of the piece:
"end of the rope"
So, while I liked most of the used language in the poem, because it harkens back to a specific feeling of churchiness and restrictedness. This poem didn't quite work for me, since "end of the rope" isn't all that creative, and didn't fit with the other imagery of the poem. Could you ue a more creative metaphor that maybe gets more at the "restricted" feeling.
"fired back"
Here's a good little piece of figurative language about how James was speaking to give a bit of character. I like it, because it contrasts with how some people read the bible as being a very passive, boring, hug-every-body type of book. So "fired-back" carries a bit of "fire" or bite.
"a prophet"
this was the most intriguing piece of figurative language in the bit. Because I'm not sure if you mean a literal prophet as someone speaking the future, or someone speaking condemnation into what's going on in the world. If it's the latter, the poem itself might be the prophet which is super intriguing.
Narrative Elements
So there are a few characters in this piece
the speaker,
james/the biblical voice,
Jesus
and the prophet
and maybe even the reader since they seem to be directly addressed.
Let's talk about the speaker for a second, in a narrative style poem I ideally like to see a narrator that I empathize with and that is addressing or experiencing a clear conflict.
I think the conflict for the speaker is clear and interesting enough - that they'e looking at the world and seeing a discconect between what James is telling people to do, and what people are actually doing in their daily lives. Now I'd love to see how this conflicts with the speaker personally. In the poem we get hints at it through the speaker's personality - they don't capitalize james and several other words, so I think they are not a traditionalist, they're not going to obey the bible just because it sounds good, (thus their rejection of formal capitalization rules) and yet they want to urge people to actually adhere to what the bible is saying. And they want to continue to search for this truth.
On the prophet issue - this might just be a personal rant, but I actually find the fourth stanza a bit confusing about what precisely the prophet or the speaker is advocating. I also think the gendered language for prophet is unnecessary.
So overall general conflict I got - disconnect between bible and people's lived experience and lives, but I'm not sure I get how it connects to the speaker especially - I'd like some concrete example of where they see this not playing out (because it'd help readers connect to the poem) and then the prophet stanza got a bit muddled for me, despite me really liking the concept.
Interpretation
Okay I interpreted this poem to be specifically that the speaker is finding a disconnect between what the bible says and what people are doing, they wonder (in a somewhat critical tone) if the bible is good for anything if people aren't actually obeying the heart of what it says. They also question if the world is ready for another prophet, a truth-speaker who can speak the bible in a way that's relevant that people actually will listen to it. And in a way the /poem itself/ serves as a prophetic truth-speaking-voice to the reader, saying "what good is what you're doing?".
I think the general meaning or moral of the poem is to not read the Bible with dead hearts or minds, but think about what /Truth/ it's trying to communicate. Specifically in regards to works ~ is faith dead or alive? Are we obeying the Bible with lip-service, or actually going out and doing good work? .
I'll have to disagree with Katnes, and say I think that your capitalization choices helped communicate the message - the lower-case letters communicate a need to re-evaluate formal text in favor of meaning, which goes perfectly with what I think the message is.
Overall
I think this poem successfully blended biblical themes and allusions with a call to action, and maybe a push towards self-evaluation. That's a lot to cover in the span of a short poem.
I'd love to have a bit of a clearer understanding though about the references to the "prophet" and to the "truth" because I think these ended up being a bit vague at the end. Which is mysterious, but maybe not as clear as it could be.
Thanks for posting Lizz! And I hope to see more of your thought-provoking poetry soon.
~alliyah
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