Acts: Poems

by Spencer Reece

A book of poems that reckons with love in all its forms, by the priest and poet Spencer Reece—his first collection in ten years.

. . . My old love,
my love who gave me language that I love,
when there are no words, there are only acts.

Spencer Reece, a poet and an Episcopal priest, suffuses his poetry with tenderness, humanity, and a wonderous alchemy of beauty and sorrow. As the Nobel laureate Louise Glück wrote, “emanating from Spencer Reece’s work [is] a sense of immanence that belongs more commonly to religious passion; it is a great thing to have it again in art.”

Acts , the third book of poetry by Reece, is the product of a decade of work and of a life acutely lived. In it, he celebrates the language and literature of Spain and tracks his tenure at the Spanish Episcopal Church. At times, the collection is a love letter to Madrid; at other moments, to Old Lyme, Connecticut, where the speaker’s parents lived until the death of his father, and to Little Compton, Rhode Island. The poems are also an homage to the letter itself, to its art and its waning means of connection across distance. In Acts , Reece confronts grief and love, loneliness and self-acceptance, with honesty, artful lyricism, and, above all, a true and luminous grace.

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Hardcover

Published May 28, 2024

Reviews

[Renee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm afraid this book was too Carroll-y for me. Felt like ramblings and uninhibited musings. Random words hodge-podged together in a lot of parts. Many endings felt disjointed and unsatisfying. A large number of lines, titles, verses, and subtitles in the book were in Spanish, so I rallied my two years of beginner and intermediate Spanish from university and tripped and stumbled my way through these poems.

I love poems that toe the line as much as the next poet, but Reece's "edgy Christianity" feels less earnest and more affectatious in these poems. Less craft and more shock. Think Episcopal Jabberwocky with some postmodern blather sprinkled in. Yikes.

Since this is THE Spencer Reece (I repeat, THE Spencer Reece), perhaps the problem is me. Or perhaps I simply don't care for this book. Or perhaps both. I will be selling this little volume on my next used bookstore run, but before that, I have to somehow write a critical essay for grad school on this less-than-stellar reading experience.

[Mado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris’s collection of poetry books doesn’t quit!!!

[Joseph · Rating 1 out of 5]

Loved Spencer Reece's previous poetry books and was excited to read this one. However, as much as it pains me to say, this is a huge miss. At times, some of the poems have an Alice in Wonderland quality-- "Gin rummy! / I'm out--/O Queen of Hearts,/'Queen of Hearts./ Queen of Hearts,/Queen of Hearts,/where is/your beau?" Or, "Iowa/ in my/owl-eye/I crack/ delicate/Acropolis/Io fleeing/ Wisconsin/Faberge/Easter/ego/egg/off/the Empire/State/I go I/wow..." Some of the poems are written as if Mr. Reece suffered from Wernicke's aphasia-- a word salad of utterances found in individuals who suffer a stroke. Spanish phrases are liberally mixed in, ostensibly to highlight the difficulty a non-Spanish speaker has when trying to preach in a non-native tongue, but the lines both before and after, do not allow one to inhabit the poems as a participant and understand the speaker or his predicament. I could not find one poem that sparkles even though a number of these poems were published in some prestigious literary journals. Apparently, faith and its adherents are like editors reading recognizable poets--if it is written, it must be gospel. Must publish the word, even if it's gobbledygook. I welcome any critiques as to how I must have missed the "genius" of these poems.

[Alexander Pyles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most collections like this, it warrants a re-read and a re-re-read, but Reece's style is wonderful. His knowledge and love of the written word are clearly present. There were moments of wondering what his "project" is and I would have enjoyed more of a spiritual "presence" throughout the work, based on the writer and alluded to themes, but it never came to fruition. Again, worthy of re-reading to see if it comes out more then and after some ruminating.

[Ence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, brutally good phrases, especially in María Magdalena (“Occupied my sex, barely”, and the twist at the end), the mom death poems, the long letters from Spain. But painfully Episcopalian at places— all are welcome here, that sort. Less shocking than the first, alas.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

"If Jesus thought / he was going to be adored he was mistaken. / Love is an invisible business." ("Ayer")

[Reagan Kapasi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Liked: made religion feel personal. Disliked: little connection.