"living with what remains" is a volume of poetry that focuses in an unusually prescient way upon the losses we face in a complex society and frighteningly vulnerable world. With an eye to the "eternal clock" and a lingering look at what it means to be human in a steadily declining environment, Dupree paints an unflinching picture of the despair that defeats us and the stubborn hope that sustains us.

Living With What Remains
By Judith D. Dupree
Quiddity Press (2004)  
Reviewed by Cherie Burbach for Reader Views (3/06)


“Living With What Remains” speaks of a message of hope in a world so
often filled with struggle.  The work consists of three sections of all free-
verse poetry, the presence of God and faith visible throughout.  I found
the later poems of the book to be suggestive of the Psalms – calling out
to God in desperation and lament.  In poems such as “Epiphany” we are
reminded that nature’s knowledge of God and His power is equivalent to
our own, perhaps more so – the tone reminding me of Mary Oliver’s
work from time to time.  

In “Wind & Light & Sparrows” we get a sense of light through the
darkest times, that even when the world seems bleakest we can cling to
faith to see us through:

“The earth will turn
will bow before the shadowed dark
and shrug me on...
but I am not undone,
not chilled to hope.”

I was charmed by “And He Turns,” and the reminder of how awkwardly
we sometimes summons God, and the majestic way He responds:

“God looks over His shoulder
and He sees us in our waiting
sees us hem-and-hawing,
standing there,
needing Him, not wanting
to disturb Him.”

And then:

“He turns, the way
He taught the earth
to balance on its axis;

He turns like the eager
flex of sun come forth to
cover us each morning”

The poem “Blessing” offers a delightfully simple picture of God’s grace
broken up by hours, days, years, the world, and finally, the kingdom.  It
sums up our short lives on earth and how quickly they will pass before
we are transported to God’s kingdom, where our new life of forever will
begin.

I especially enjoyed “Building The House” and its sweet nod to Habitat
for Humanity, as well as “These Things,” in its reminder of the true
meaning of our lives here on earth:

“We must weigh our lonely evidence
of grief against the quiet summary
of Hope –
and push beyond”

Appropriately rounding out the book is the poem, “Long Walk Home,”
which reminds us of the world to come, when we are finished with this
short life and enter Heaven with “arms full of dreams both lived and
shriveled.”  The poem paints a beautiful picture of the majesty and
importance of God:

“He comes.
He simply steps from nothing
into everything
and everywhere
and all that was and is
and never came to be.”