First Things RSS Feed - Craig Payne https://www.firstthings.com/author/craig-payne en-us Copyright 2025 First Things. All Rights Reserved. ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) Mon, 20 Jan 2025 16:55:48 -0500 https://d2201k5v4hmrsv.cloudfront.net/img/favicon-196.png First Things RSS Feed Image https://www.firstthings.com/rss/author/craig-payne 60 Self-Portrait, 1998 https://www.firstthings.com/article/1998/01/004-self-portrait https://www.firstthings.com/article/1998/01/004-self-portrait Thu, 01 Jan 1998 00:00:00 -0500 He is actually very happy, which goes to explain

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]]> The Incarnate Creator https://www.firstthings.com/article/1997/04/003-the-incarnate-creator https://www.firstthings.com/article/1997/04/003-the-incarnate-creator Tue, 01 Apr 1997 00:00:00 -0500 Light falls on the door in an oblique plane of cream
like something in Vermeer, and comes into this room,
to be met by red and blue Fisher-Price disarray.
Out in the yard, bare oak branches sway
in the warm April breeze. A red jacket lies thrown
over a cream chair, where Dr. Seuss sits on loan
from the downtown library. Here are all the books
he carefully thumbs; here is the bedroom mirror he looks
at in the morning; here are the blue stairs he loves to climb
with unsteady but careless steps. Life is here, and time
has little meaning in the abundance he provides.
This home’s narrow rooms scarcely contain his wide-ranging strides,
as he considers the territory he finds day by day.
He waves his hand and epiphanies forth what he may.
Just over there, for instance, beyond the lighted door,
is the world he has created, creates, with every Word:
Door, Light, Sun, Tree, Upstairs and Down, the manifold
outsplashing of the thing-ness streaming forth from of old.
Angels shine in the oak, as for Blake, beyond the lighted door
and announce mortal hope, Life Incarnate, once more.
He creates. He proclaims. What he says is, is.
The paradox: Eternity within Time. Always, he lives.

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]]> The Theodicies of the Rural https://www.firstthings.com/article/1995/08/the-theodicies-of-the-rural https://www.firstthings.com/article/1995/08/the-theodicies-of-the-rural Tue, 01 Aug 1995 00:00:00 -0400 We drive nails into the hooves, twist off
the horns with worn vise grips, separate mates,
pluck the tails, shave the wool, amputate
the balls, check carefully every wet cough,
hide the pincers inside the leather gloves
(the same soft leather used for critics’ shoes),
and eye the fluctuations in market news;
we pat the beasts that we really do love,
groom them tenderly for 4-H events,
eat spiced beef sandwiches and drink weak beer,
watch the authorities gauge the worth of our steers,
and visit the county fair’s gospel tent.

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]]> On Viewing the Paintings of Bruno Liljefors https://www.firstthings.com/article/1992/01/on-viewing-the-paintings-of-bruno-liljefors https://www.firstthings.com/article/1992/01/on-viewing-the-paintings-of-bruno-liljefors Wed, 01 Jan 1992 00:00:00 -0500 How good and fine it would have been, to be out upon the wild loon swells
And watch the sea-eagles coming in;
Or to climb, body lashed by salt sea spray, up
Through the face-lashing spray of pine,
To view through a rift the goshawk’s nest, and, hunched over all
Those downy forms, that fierce red eye;
Or to see the glint in the vixen’s eyes, pin-hard and bright,
Gemstone green of the finest water,
As she weaves her way through the marsh verdure,
Hard-won duck champed tight and secure:
Essential image both guide and lure.

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