st_ethan_c's reviews
15 reviews

Brilliant collection! Siken's expertise as a painter blends into his writing with the artistic details and his methodical approach to description. It's not easy to understand because metaphors and figurative writing abound in his poems, but I appreciated it the same way I did when looking at an art piece.

This comic is an intriguing attempt to relate the development of Christianity to this titular piece of Christian mythology, with a political slant to it. Jesus Christ is portrayed as this anarchical, meek figure who confronts the temptations of power in hell. As he journeys through hell, Christ is forced to grapple with the violent legacy of Christianity that comes after him,

with Satan literally depicted in the form of Caesar, who tells Jesus that his name will be used for war and conquest despite his refusal of it.

It raises a compelling critique of the nonviolent, egalitarian message of Christ and how it is frequently warped by those with power to harm and oppress even to this very day.

Where do I begin with this? The play starts off as a dark comedy that is more hilarious than serious, and slightly racist, but starts tapping into the philosophical towards the end of the play. And it's emotionally devastating. "What is redemption and salvation?" is an inevitable question that I've confronted countless times as someone who was raised Christian, yet this play subverts traditional doctrine and delves into redemption as a form of self-forgiveness. While the Last Days of Judas Iscariot is set as a trial for one of the arguably most besmirched characters in Christianity, a lot of the narrative is centered on Judas' anguish after his betrayal, as if his "punishment" was self-inflicted from his feelings of guilt and despair. This play altered my outlook on theology, especially concerning atonement and redemption.

This was the first poetry collection from Traci Brimhall that I've ever read, and she instantly moved me with her style of writing. I am in awe of how she can construct poems with such evocativeness, with her words she conveys eroticism, love, loss, and more with such tangibility and viscerality. Her poetry is profound and you can tell it comes from a place of personal experience.