A Crown for Abba Moses

<p><span>Mature poetic craft deftly does its job on every page of this gathering of new and selected poems. Timothy E. G. Bartel knows precisely how to use ageless poetic tools -- metrics metaphor allusion -- to elicit ageless responses from us: joy grief wonder. He brings gentle humor wide curiosity and an understanding of human nature to the task. Really what more can we ask of poetry?</span></p><p><span>-- </span><strong>Jane Greer</strong><span> author of </span><em>The World as We Know It Is Falling Away</em></p><p><br></p><p class=ql-align-center><em>When Moses had escaped from slavery</em></p><p class=ql-align-center><em>(Many years before he was called Abba)</em></p><p class=ql-align-center><em>He settled on the best course for his life:</em></p><p class=ql-align-center><em>To be a thief and lead a crew of thieves.</em></p><p><br></p><p><span>So begins Timothy E. G. Bartel's series of sonnets on Moses the Ethiopian one of the greatest saints of the ancient Christian world. Alongside the life of St. Moses Bartel also presents a new version of the story of Camilla the tragic warrior of Virgil's </span><em>Aeneid</em><span> whose dedication to the goddess of Diana leads her through battle and death to glory. Sonnets hymns elegiac couplets and translations round out this collection in which Bartel explores the worlds of history legend and nature.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span>Also included are selected poems from Bartel's earlier publications including </span><em>Arroyos: Sijos and Other Poems</em><span> (2015) and </span><em>The Martyr The Grizzly The Gold: Poems</em><span> (2012).</span></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Timothy E. G. Bartel</strong><span> is a poet and professor from California. He is the author of several books of poetry and literary criticism including </span><em>Aflame but Unconsumed: Poems</em><span> (Kelsay Books 2019) and </span><em>The Heroines of Henry Longfellow: Domestic Defiant Divine</em><span> (Lexington 2022). Timothy currently serves as Professor of Great Texts and Writing at Saint Constantine College.</span></p>