9 | The Gospel of X | George Elliott Clarke

THE GOSPEL OF X
Vallum Chapbook Series No. 9
George Elliott Clarke

An excerpt from an “epic-in-progress” Canticles: Hymns of the African Baptist Association, The Gospel of X is a beautifully written long poem. Taking the point of view of Jesus, three-time award-winner Clarke employs dialect to tell the story of the crucifixion in an imaginative, contemporary manner. Punctuating elevated language with commonplace diction, The Gospel of X depicts Jesus’ innermost thoughts/ponderings, from his suspect paternity and father’s moodiness, to years of wandering the desert yearning to be with Mary Magdalene, to questioning his decision to “orate or else deteriorate” prior to his end.

Author’s Bio

George Elliott Clarke (1960-) was raised in the African United Baptist Church Association of Nova Scotia, founded in 1853. His Whylah Falls (1990) received the Archibald Lampman Award for Poetry; his Execution Poems (2000) took the Governor-General’s Award for Poetry; and his Blues and Bliss: The Poetry of George Elliott Clarke (2008), won the Eric Hoffer Book Award for Poetry. His newest book is I & I (2009), a verse novel.