Credence

by Dennis Phillips

Written in the form of an annotated prose-poem, Credence quietly challenges the very possibility of "true belief" by submitting even the shards of narrative coherence in the poetry to further fracturing, until meaning itself becomes a blur of criss-crossing associations. Instead of leaving the reader with a sense of emptiness, however, Phillips' brilliant poem demonstrates how the very recognition of linguistic rupture can enrich meaning, can allow for a whole new range of possibilities of significance. Ultimately "credence" is reestablished, not for a belief in a univocal world but in a social construct of many voices and tongues.

80 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2000