Psalms for the Poor

Psalms for the Poor talk back to the blunt and beautiful phrases of the King James Bible. Sometimes personal, sometimes political, the original Psalms complain, question, curse, and adore: ""Why do the wicked prosper?"" ""When I consider the moon and the stars,"" ""My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"" ""The Lord is my shepherd,"" ""But I am poor and needy."" Luther's last words were, ""We are beggars."" These poems are for the world's poor, and for the pauper in each of us.

Kent Gramm is the author of Psalms for Skeptics, The Prayer of Jesus, November, Somebody's Darling, Gettysburg, and the novel Clare. He is a winner of the Hart Crane Memorial Poetry Prize, and teaches at Gettysburg College.