Isaac Tang – Poet, Author, Composer

Glimpse of the Divine

by Isaac Tang

Is it a gripping suspense novel filled with action? Is it an imaginative fantasy tale that leads you from world to world, realm to realm? Is it a heart-wrenching narrative in a dark, dystopian setting?

Not at all.

Being characteristically me, I unfortunately had to publish a book that is odd, esoteric and stylistically out-of-touch with modernity. It is a wonder that Wipf and Stock Publishers even accepted to publish this eccentric volume.

Firstly, it is a collection of poetry, a genre that has lost the high standing it enjoyed for millennia. Secondly, in a genre that is already dwindling in significance, I have chosen to write Christian religious poetry. Thirdly, rather than writing in modern poetic style (i.e. free verse) with normal syntax, I have chained myself to the forms of ancient poetry, strictly dictated by meter and rhyme. It is pretty obvious that dead poets and writers (e.g. Shakespeare) have interested and inspired me more than those living—which is not necessarily a good thing.

However, this slim collection of fifty poems quite actually did take a decade to form. Each poem was meticulously crafted, every word carefully selected for its sound, meaning and connotations, all the while adhering to rhyme and meter (usually iambic, occasionally ‘sprung rhythm’). The poems are densely crowded with allusions, often Biblical or historical. Following in the steps of the metaphysical poets (e.g. Herbert, Donne), there are several bizarre and startling metaphors. One complex acrostic poem ‘2020’s Obituary’ also demonstrates my fascination with the work of Lewis Carroll.

There are some unique features of my poems. There are East Asian flavours scattered across—one poem is devoted to the cogitative analysis of one Chinese character, with an unexpected conclusion. There are also modern themes, including climate change, the pandemic and subtle political satire.

If somehow this does interest you, my book ‘Glimpse of the Divine’ can be purchased for your amusement and my immense gratitude.

“My mind sees wonders, and my heart

Shivers with joy and restlessness—

To weave soft shadows of pure Art,

And trap a touch of Consciousness:

I pin, on mulberry sheets, the wreath

Wafting down from the Autumn moon;

I roam, with tingling ears, beneath

Stone archways of scholastic tune.

I dip my hands within blue crests

That ripple through the vast, deep lake;

I gather dew from high cloud-nests

That round the pine-tops flow and flake . . . ”