Coming Soon: Megan and The Principalities
A Love-Myth About The End
Melchizedek does come again, if you can accept it.
A Narrative Poem
This is something I’ve been working on for a while—over nine years, really. It took on a new form when I met the woman who would become my wife; the Muse called out to me and gave me my words, my theme, my inspiration. She took hold of me and my story and brought it into Epic.
It’s a narrative poem. These don’t really exist anymore in a way that past generations would recognize. Meters have fallen away, subject matters have become political rather than heroic and romantic, and subversion or slyness have been put in the place of beauty. I may be missing something, but to my knowledge, only Malcolm Guite’s forthcoming Arthuriad will break this trend.
The kinds of stories that would once have been put to verse are now written in prose. This comes from a deep-seated taste in our age, and one that I generally share. I think we feel not only that telling stories in verse is odd and boutique-y, but that the story and style themselves are adulterated by having to conform to a meter or rhyme scheme. But in the past, the poetry was part of the delight. On top of this, when it is done well, it takes even more skill to tell a good story in poetry than in prose.
But there is another difference that I have discovered: The poetry can beguile. It can help take subject matter which is odd and at times too whimsical for straight-faced prose, and set it free. It allows the message to find its medium.
A Holy Satire
The idea for my story is that Christ is about to return to earth. But before him goes a preacher, just as John the Baptist prepared the way for his first coming. This time it is Melchizedek. He comes to set in order the household of God, which includes telling some hard truths to every kind of Christian, as well as to the secular powers.
The story takes place all around the world, and ranges from sections of (what will at least feel like) theological satire, to personal drama, to supernatural thriller, to romance, to high adventure, to cultural analysis, and beyond. But I hope it will all cohere around the story of our heroine, and the scary, exalted position she finds herself in, alongside the undying prophet who tries to help her find her place amid a frightening array of demonic and angelic powers, religious and world leaders, and the end of the age.
The rest I will let the reader find out in the story itself. It will be released one canto at a time, and anything might be rewritten subsequently, since this is truly a first pass.
I hope you will read along as I write, and see where it all goes with me. And I do hope you will be pleased with it.
My love is starting an Epic!
I can’t wait to start reading this, Noah!