Whether heretical or reverent to use the Bible as a word bank, Katie Manning’s Hereverent stirs readers to reflection over religion by reconfiguring Biblical language. Manning reshapes language that has traditionally been wielded to injure and isolate people, to invite all readers to ponder and embrace their personal assessment of belief. Manning’s mix of violent and delicate imagery, alliterative sounds, and tense allusions bewitch readers, leading them to introspection over personal liberation and religion throughout Hereverent.

Manning’s imagery is both emotionally jarring and purifying. Such as the vividly cruel image in her depiction of a sociopathic God in “The Book of Jam”:

so the Lord
set fire to
the poorest people
and all the
dishes

and
the Lord
ate regularly

God, in this poem, isn’t illustrated as the “Good Shepherd,” but rather a predator who frequently preys on the helpless, “the poorest people.”

Manning builds tension with her ability to juxtapose the alluring alliteration of the liquid l’s and gliding w’s with forlorn images of God’s neglect. This contrast illuminates the cruelty in the poem “The Book of Maps”:

whatever
the
wind blows away
the Lord watches

Throughout Hereverent Manning intersperses Biblical allusions and similes to intensify tension. This skill is exemplified in my favorite poem from the collection, “The Book of Human”:

you will go
like
ripe fruit
into the mouth of the eater
…
like a swarm of locusts

Manning relates human mortality through allusions to destructive Biblical objects, such as “ripe fruit” from the Garden in Genesis and the plague of locusts found in Exodus.

Organized into seventy-two poems that model the books of the Bible and entirely composed of Biblical language, Hereverent is deliberately structured to elicit religious reflection. Unlike polarizing and one-sided readings of the Bible, the prevalent ambiguity and tension of Hereverent encourages multiplicity. Manning contrasts alliterative pleasure with unorthodox biblical imagery, which captivates then leaves readers to contemplate humanity, Christianity, and the interconnection between destruction and faith. Hereverent stirred me to reflect on the Christian cruelty I have witnessed growing up in The Bible Belt, and I was captivated entirely by the inventiveness of Manning’s craft.