Joshua = Jesus, my wife says. So..."Josh's Favorite Chair". Tried it out myself, Silent, and is fun as you suggest, but seems to me to be mostly a distraction. Ultimately, the poem about yearning for salvation/relief/rest, and my real choice is between "Christ" and "Jesus". What makes so many of us able to attach our yearnings to this figure? For some, the humanness implicit in Jesus is key, for others, the power and majesty implicit in "Christ". Thanks...will continue thinking about name...Tom

I really enjoyed this, especially as I'm reading Paradise Lost in the moment, and thus have lots of biblical fish swimming in my head.

I love how contemporary it feels, with such old subject matter.

james

Glad you are enjoying this James. PL is such a monument to me because, in it, Milton actually created new theology -- features of the theological story -- with such power that it has become quite commonly accepted, as if it was from scriptural revelation. Wow. Tom

My thoughts exactly. It's pretty mindblowing; especially that bit where Satan is floating through the inchoate universe, looking for earth. Stupendous.

It must be so rare for a writer to get that clarity and intensity of vision, don't you think?

Abso.
It's like he was there. It's like he is Satan. This kind of imagination blows my mind too.

Don't know how ancient the practice is, but probably the mohel did apply an annointing to the cut, so that every circumcised boy becomes christos.

Heh...why not leave the name out of the title? Hehee...call it Lazyboy...(j.k)...but seriously. Something like Privelege Seat or something less corny, heh

Thanks, Gabriella. I could see maybe just "Your favorite chair" from epigraph. You think that would work as well, or better? Tom

Please forgive me if I sound rude regarding this comment, and please know that it's certainly not a personal attack on anyone or anyone's comments here, at all, but I'm having a hard time understanding why using 'Christ' in the title is a problem to the extent that it is here.

Maybe it's a quandary to me because I'm a Christian and I do believe in Christ.

But I wonder this as well.  Could this be an example of what Larry was talking about in his discussion 'Risk' (I'll post the link)?  Could it be that because Christ is Christ and not a generic title be the reason readers are suggesting other names?

If that's so I would have to say keeping 'Christ' in the title is the best thing to do for that very reason.  The narrator's not talking about 'the spirit in the sky' as the 60s song, not talking about Allah or Buddha, or 'the man upstairs' -- the Christ the narrator writes about is the one mentioned in the Bible, for whom there are several names, but they're all the same person.  I don't know them all off the top of my head but I can find them very quickly.

So, I guess the point of this reply, Tom, is to give you my opinion which is to keep 'Christ' in the title (sounds almost like I'm saying 'keep prayer in school' almost) because that's who you're talking about;  in fact I'll go on to say that using another name would lessen poem;  it would be obvious you're trying to water down the title, which is never appealing to me, don't know about anyone else.

Also my point is to say that I believe you're aware of the ramifications of using 'Christ' in the title of a poem or even speaking positively of him in the body of the poem, as you do here.  SO, I won't even go there.  It's not like you started writing poetry yesterday.

And please, please understand, for anyone reading this reply, it's not meant to be negative or critical of one single thing said here.  It's just my opinion.

Now, I'll find those names, Tom, I think there are seven, and post them, as well as the link to Larry's discussion, which is a good one, by the way, for anyone who hasn't visited the discussion forum lately.

cheryl

Better said, these are the names for God in the Bible  The ones I couldn't remember are the 'Jehovah' titles and there are nine not seven (sorry about all-caps, hurts my eyes too, but it was c&p):
ELOHIM:  God Creator, Preserver, Transcendent, Mighty and Strong
EL SHADDAI:  God Almighty or "God All Sufficient"
ADONAI:  "Master'' or "Lord"
JEHOVAH:  LORD, Yahweh, Jehovah Elohim, "The Self-Existent One," "I AM WHO I AM", "I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE"
JEHOVAH-JIREH:  "The Lord will Provide." 
JEHOVAH-ROPHE:  "The Lord Who Heals"
JEHOVAH-NISSI:  "The Lord Our Banner"
JEHOVAH-M'KADDESH:  "The Lord Who Sanctifies"
JEHOVAH-SHALOM:  "The Lord Our Peace"
JEHOVAH ELOHIM:  "LORD God"
JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU:  "The Lord Our Righteousness"
JEHOVAH-ROHI:  "The Lord Our Shepherd"
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH:  "The Lord is There"
*********************************
If it were my poem and I HAD to change the title I'd probably change it to Adonai because it just sounds good to me, and it's used in the New Testament.  But looking above, Shalom might work, in reference to peace since 'rest' is mentioned in the poem.

LOL, Simply put, I thought leaving "Christ" out of the title gave it more of an invitation to read...When you read the piece, you get plenty of "Christ," making it uneccessary and redundant in the title. This is regardless of any beliefs or religions. Just poetry :) Tom, I think that would work great. Perhaps just "Favorite Chair"?

Tom
superb work, as usual
it's your poem
but just so you know, the title worked fine for me

Stella