Translating Genesis
Translating Genesis
Deborah Godin
Drawings by David Pugh
6 X 9 inches, 80 pages
Four pencil drawings
GODIN EXPLORES THE WORLDS OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION by using them as metaphors in the macro context of creation. This is the second book in her trilogy of philosophical autobiography, preceded by Stranded in Terra and followed by Troubling a Star. Stylistically, Translating Genesis is patterned after the Bible—there are poems of genesis, prayers, psalms and songs, histories, and genealogies. This format leads her to reconcile the two lovers, science and religion, by showing that creation is evolution, not opposed to it. Geographically, the poems achieve their discoveries in the prairies and foothills of western Canada, particularly in and around the city of Calgary, Alberta.
Ornamental this music designed
purely to grace the night air
unseen, with its dark
sad arpeggios and poignant harmonies:
2 colours of twilight
7 shades of evening weaving under-
neath the circles of candlelight
on the ceiling forming
1 pale full moon, the colour of topaz
ice, of spanish champagne in your
narrow spiraled glass, the sparkling seed-pearl
constellations rising towards your lips, tiny
#'s and other golden accidentals add to our
midnights spent timeless
in the lap of hours
naked, counting stars and listening
over and over to the same
record notes spilling out of the
corner speakers, filling the room with their
hushed melancholy it is the
one piece I'll never tire of
playing never tire of lying here
in the mauve and indigo
next to you
—Psalm 21
Deborah Godin
Author
Poems and short stories by Deborah Godin have been published in several journals and anthologies since 1975, including Northward Journal, Event, Antigonish Review, Canadian Forum, and others. She has been on CBC Radio in Alberta. Her art criticism and reviews have appeared in Arts West Magazine and the Alberta Culture Visual Arts publication. And she has exhibited her artwork in Calgary, Toronto and Saint John.
