Seal Up the Thunder

Allison Sivak is a librarian in the Science and Technology Library at
the University of Alberta.

This intensely beautiful book of poetry explores Christianity in poems
that are original and sharp. Noteboom often writes in Biblical
character, creating fresh and skilful monologues. The author uses the
first and second testaments, the psalms, and the Old Testament wisdom
writings as foundations, writing with a contemporary voice and
evocative, unexpected imagery. “scraps and velvet” speaks to God as
a domestic creator: “The earth wears out / and you change it like an
apron / […] God of silks and scraps / of selvage and velvet / let me
lean at your knees / as you hum over piece work / My God of the ragbag /
with the needle in your mouth— .” Noteboom connects the messy
quotidian qualities of life with the spiritual: “grey and greased
dishwater / late, last thing—the whole day / and nothing consecrated /
[…] from the fry pan / I lift my hands / dripping like hyssop.” She
can also be playful in her prayers: “Oh God, here I am / having bad
sex,” suggesting that moments of spiritual contemplation can strike at
the most unexpected times.

At times earthy and raucous, at others ethereal and quiet, these poems
move easily among a diverse range of voices, evidence of a writer who is
equally comfortable finding religion in Biblical story and in daily
chores or the heat of sex. A beautiful, intelligent, and challenging
book.