The Songs of a Sinner by Norm Cairns

A book of lovingly crafted poems on Christian themes

In our free-wheeling age of emancipated poetry, new verse that comes with form and—dare we say it?—rhyme is always a welcome surprise. Norman Cairns’ collection, The Songs of a Sinner, has both—and a lot of feeling too.

The book is in two parts, the first of which is made up of poems in free form. These, never more than a page long, are paraphrases and elaborations on verses from the New Testament. The motivating chapters and verses of each poem are helpfully provided as footnotes.

In addition, every poem comes with an AI generated image or a scene from a classic painting. Some of the AI images have a unique, occasionally jarring effect. Acting as a break from the religious theme is an imitation of Emily Dickinson which is not far from the real thing.

Cairns’ preferred rhyme schemes are simple: the quatrain and the couplet. He is not above slant and visual rhyme or even giving up on a rhyme altogether if it proves too elusive or unnatural. Some rhymes catch you by surprise, like “nights” with “wilderness,” capitalizing on a simple likeness of the final consonant. The rhythm of Cairns’ lines can stumble at times, but his enthusiasm on the subject matter carries us along. Among my favorite stanzas are here, where Satan is trying to tempt Christ:

“Turn these stones to bread,” he said,
“Then hunger will be no more.”
“Worship me instead!” he urged,
But Christ bows not to Hell’s spore.

He took Him to a mountain high,
Where horizon kissed the sky,
Fortune and goods, a fountain,
“If you trust in me, rely.”

The second part of The Songs of a Sinner consists of sonnets, for which Cairns apologizes in his very charming introduction. But the apology is unjustified! The imposed structure of the sonnet proves an ally to Cairns, especially in his plaintive poem about writing a sonnet, with its pleading ending couplet, “May God protect me from the doggerel / That haunts the place in Hell where poets dwell.”  Even in the sonnets, Cairns’ work is characterized by an unashamed sincerity and a measured rejection of artifice.

The books of the New Testament are great literature. In a modern American culture where most—especially the religious—are trying their best to remove the poetry from religion (literally, in the case of modern Bible translations), Norman Cairns’ effort is admirable and appreciated. This is a work of love and a gift for enthusiasts of contemporary religious verse.