> > I think many Christians (yoohoo!) view these passages with unease, as if "this stuff isn't supposed to be in Scripture."
> Exactly. The Puritans blew it in that regard, overcorrecting lasciviousness, and that mindset is still very strong in North America.

And not only the Puritans. For a long time the standard practice of the Western Church was to interpret the entire Song of Songs allegorically. One preacher praught a lengthy series of sermons in which he painstakingly drew out the allegorical meaning of every little part of the book. (Sorry, I forget who that person was.)

> I would love to see more upbeat poetry, and it's a myth that "upbeat" must always be sappy or gushy. Read the two poems by Howard Agassiz Murrill, our own Howard's grandfather, in the Poetry Pool. There is such a joyous parental pride in those writings, and none of it is sappy at all.

Yes, those are some of my favorite poems in the Pool.

> What fascinates me possibly more still is the kind of poetry right in between: the bittersweet. I loved Kiki's recently posted poem for that reason. Bittersweetness is a beckoning call for thought and reflection like no other. I eat bittersweetness up, whether it's in poetry or in another form entirely -- short stories, novels, movies, you name it.

You must have *loved* the Bloom County strip in which Opus extemporizes poetically upon the departure from office of one of his beloved politicians:

The wind doth taste so bittersweet,
Like jasper wine and sugar,
I'll bet it's blown through others' feet
Like those of Caspar Weinberger.

> Heh. I couldn't disagree with you more. In the spirit of imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, consider parody the most artful form of flattery.

I'll take artless, slobbering flattery, thank you. :-)

Issy The Great