{"product_id":"9780807164631","title":"The 13th Sunday after Pentecost: Poems","description":"\u003cp\u003e   In \u003ci\u003eThe 13th Sunday after Pentecost\u003c\/i\u003e, Joseph Bathanti offers poems that delve deep into a life reimagined through a mythologized past. Moving from his childhood to the present, weaving through the Italian immigrant streets of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to his parochial school, from the ballpark to church and home again, these contemplative poems present a situation unique to the poet but familiar to us all.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e   As Bathanti recalls the joys, struggles, and confusion of his formative years in the late fifties and into the sixties, he gains a deeper understanding of the often surreal, always paradoxical world around him. He explores the perceived injustices of childhood, observes the mysteries of religious rituals, and examines the complex emotions families experience as children grow up and parents grow old. These poems divulge an eventful life, compelling us to reflect on our own as we confront a world of wonder and uncertainty.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e   \u003cem\u003eAcross the strike zone swoops a dove,\u003cbr\u003e   maybe an angel. You’re in Pittsburgh,\u003cbr\u003e   March; it’s snowing. All week\u003cbr\u003e   you’ve seen angels; everyone’s tired,\u003cbr\u003e   proclaiming even horrid things angels,\u003cbr\u003e   intimating miracles. Johnson’s pitch\u003cbr\u003e   obliterates the bird—\u003cbr\u003e   a hail of feathers and dander,\u003cbr\u003e   as if inside a tiny bomb detonated.\u003cbr\u003e   Like a cartoon. Thoroughly unbelievable.\u003cbr\u003e   Around you, people are dying.\u003cbr\u003e   But you ignore it.\u003cbr\u003e   You laugh at the massacred dove.\u003cbr\u003e   It’s not funny, but you laugh.\u003cbr\u003e   You could cry, rip your hair out, your clothes off,\u003cbr\u003e   crash through the seventhfloor window\u003cbr\u003e   into the slushy black streets of the city.\u003cbr\u003e   It’s funny because it’s not.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e   —from “Angels”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Louisiana State University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47107269296368,"sku":"9780807164631","price":9.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780807164631_p0.jpg?v=1763726502","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780807164631","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}