Company of Pilgrims

Company of Pilgrims James A. Gittings 79pp.

James Gittings’ Company of Pilgrims is a tidy collection of poetry produced in celebration for the bicentennial of the Presbyterian Church. Gittings’ writes from a very rural viewpoint, unapologetically working his own personal history and sense of place into the text. Company of Pilgrims is primarily a collection of poetry, but it is social history as well. The focus shifts from the history of the Presbyterian church, to the Vietnam war, to the intentionally rustic life of Appalachia.

Gittings puts his strongest writing at the beginning of the book, in a long poem weaving the history of the Presbyterian Church with the spread of American settlers across the continent. Each section of the poem opens with a selection from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, lovingly reproduced in the original language. In addition, Gittings works his own life into the poem, carefully weaving memories into the history of the church.

In his poems, Gittings is clear-spoken to a fault. His work is sparsely dotted with metaphor and complex imagery, choosing instead to direct its focus on simple facts out of his life and the history of the Presbyterian church. There is an air in these poems, almost a longing to elevate the poet’s life into the realm of art. But this term is not precisely accurate. If Gittings wanted so desperately to bring his life up, his writing would have worked in equally elevated language. Instead, Gittings writes in plainspeak, no metaphorical or artistic tricks. It is this comfort which dominates the work, sliding Gittings’ poetry and life into a higher register than it seems at first.

I wanted to like Company of Pilgrims more than I did. The writing flows well, clearly the result of a well-honed poetic talent, but it seems to be missing some critical element. Gittings drive to portray his church and his life simply work to make the book come together in a carefully calculated way, but I found myself wanting more from it. Gittings’ plainspeak is well-wrought, but the book needs the elevation it lacks. The verse is well-crafted, just not quite worked out in the way that I desired.

Would I recommend Company of Pilgrims? No.

Score: 3.2/5

Would I keep this on my bookshelf? No, I won’t.

-Mr. Cheddar