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The Verse of Asaph
Review by Ramona Freeman
Ramona has devoted forty years to education as an elementary school teacher, child care business owner, and associate professor in early childhood education. Mountain forests and libraries are her favorite spaces. Current passions: enjoying family, watching grandchildren grow, friluftsliv and hygge, turning pages through the night.
When was the last time you read some iambic pentameter?
When was the last time you read part of the Bible?
Well, if you buy C. Daniel Koon’s The Verse of Asaph you’re in for a treat because you get to do some of both. He has set dozens of stories from the Bible to verse, all the while taking a stand on their moral messages and why they matter to us. It’s a magnificent work of nimble rhythm and insight.
Be forewarned, C. Daniel takes a few liberties with the canonical version.
Koon includes details that no one thought to write down at the time. For example, what was going on in Lot’s mind when he had to leave Sodom? How did Sara really feel when she suggested that Abram take her handmaid to bed? For my part, I’ll never think of the people Noah left behind, or the rise of Joseph to power in Egypt, the same way again. It’s the Bible as you’ve never heard it before. So much clever. So much Brilliant.
C. Daniel uses philosophy, history, and his incredible command of the English language to take the reader on a wild romp. I mean just exactly that. He can make words dance… on the head of a pin. There’s allusion to pop culture, a nod to mythology, and then a reference to ancient history. They’re everywhere. You don’t have to be a Classics major or a Bible scholar to enjoy it, but you have to stay on your toes or you’ll miss some of the inside jokes. It’s all part of listening to a captivating storyteller.
Honestly, you don’t even have to be interested in the Bible or history to appreciate this book. The poetry alone is worth the price of admission. Instead of giving us the foggy minimalism of cryptic haikus, he makes reading poetry fun again. It’s lyrical. It’s sonorous. It’s masterful.
Who would have thought that one could convert dusty old stories written thousands of years ago into a page-turner? C. Daniel Koon did, and he has succeeded beautifully.
C. Daniel Koon
The Verse of Asaph is a retelling of Bible stories in poetic verse with iambic pentameter
and it elaborates on certain narratives in an attempt to explore details our Biblical text omits. I’m reading between the lines to facilitate a more palpable grasp of what’s really going on in these tales. My desire is to paint poetic portraits in which not only revelation is amusing to read but also the colors of honest inference are stark and lurid enough to upstage our sugarcoated glaze. I’m after the marrow of these stories and will not be deterred with the bones of creed or the obscene flavor of sticky things.
Inspiration
I first had the muse to write “The Verse of Asaph” while reading A.E. Watts’ translation of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses.” I was struck with the idea that I could compare Cain and Abel to Romulus and Remus—draw out the common links between Greek and Roman mythology alongside Hebrew and Christian myth. Admittedly, these initial thoughts have evolved into something other, but I persisted with the inspiration, wanting to present and embellish Biblical stories in an artistic fashion. I was asking a very simple question of the text: if it happened, what did it look like? I further focused on the notable parts, sucking the fruit and leaving the husk behind. I thought to link those narratives along a common chain, highlighting the underlying themes that I considered to be more pertinent to a comprehensive understanding of Christianity.
The Watts’ translation also inspired my decisions to write this epic poem in iambic pentameter with rhyming couplets. This was no small task, and coming up with a rhyme every twenty syllables was a massive chore, but such a uniform would lend my verse the éclat I was looking for. Seven years later, I have the book of Genesis complete.
I have taken the best stories, the most aesthetic lines, and I’ve perfected them further through poetic voice. When you’re reading the Bible as an English reader, anything you’re consuming by visual mastication is simply a translation of the original text. All words are chosen to communicate assumed ideas. “The Verse of Asaph” is that poetic rendition your mind will be drawn to, the wildflowers in the corners of your tedious fields of corn. This work does not obliviously ignore the frailties of Biblical characters; it is voraciously honest. Try to stomach your outrage as you read “The Verse of Asaph.”