Reviewed by Kate Radford

Lucifer: A Hagiography 
Philip Memmer 
Sandpoint: Lost Horse Press, 2009 
978-0-9800289-4-2, Paperback
88 pages, $16.95 

A hagiography is a biography of a saint, and this poetic hagiography tells the life story of Lucifer through what is essentially an epic poem. Memmer creates a unique divine world while basing his story on a thorough reading of the Bible. As Lucifer's father, God is juxtaposed as omnipotent and human, perfect and fallible.

When Lucifer's homework is done,
and God has changed His shirt
and had a drink,
they sometimes head to the sand lot
out back of the Kingdom.
God brings his bat
and Lucifer goes to the garage
for a pail full of prayers (16).

The Word fulfills the role of God's wife and Lucifer's mother, a role often overlooked in the traditional telling of this tale. At the center of the story is Lucifer, a deeply complex protagonist. Together the three characters form a conflicted family unit, though no more or less dysfunctional than any other.  
 
With Memmer we follow Lucifer from his birth, through a boyhood spent making snow angels in heaven, and into a brooding adolescence during which he becomes curious about a mother he does not know. We watch as Lucifer makes the decision to fall to Earth, leaving God and his terrible ideas far behind.

Lucifer stared at God, then turned away:
That is the worst idea I've ever heard.
He spoke no other word unto his Father,
but threw himself face first down to the world (31).

Then, as an unknown angel, Lucifer experiences the many joys and heartaches of human life while he tries to participate in a world where he does not entirely belong. Throughout the poem, Memmer acknowledges the difficult aspects of the story without dwelling on them. He illuminates much of the darker side of Lucifer’s tale, but he intersperses the darkness with moments of humor and joy.

Memmer’s words are carefully chosen and the poems are beautifully written. The reader is doubly blessed that the characters and stories are just as compelling. Starting with the cover artwork and ending with the very last word, every page offers layered meanings that become more complex and telling with each read. Lucifer develops a rich world in which the reader can take up residence, mulling over the depth of the story and revisiting particularly intricate passages.

Lucifer thinks of the angels, as simple
as paper dolls inside—and of his Father,
who changed His shape for lust or metaphor—
they take it all so lightly, having form.
But here are veins and their cargo, the spleen
and its moods. Here is that time-bomb gag-gift
the appendix, the furnace of the stomach (63).

From the notes on the poems linking them to their inspirational Bible verses to titles like “Lucifer’s Beginning Poetry Workshop,” this book is meticulously planned and stunningly executed. Memmer’s most recent work is a highly recommendable and thought-provoking collection.  

Lucifer: A Hagiography is Memmer’s third book of poems. He won the Idaho Prize for Poetry from the Lost Horse Press in Sandpoint last year for this work as well as the Adirondack Literary Award for Poetry in 2008 for his previous collection, Threat of Pleasure. Playwright Kyle Bass has adapted Lucifer for the stage, and it was first performed this past January in Syracuse, New York. Memmer has also published three chapbooks as well as poems in a number of magazines and anthologies.  

 
Kate Radford is a Circulation Specialist at Silverstone Branch Library in Meridian.