The Temple Gate Called Beautiful

by Kirby, David

• ISBN13: 9781882295678
• ISBN10: 1882295676
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-04-01
• Publisher: Alice James Books

Summary

"The Temple Gate Called Beautiful is an erudite, fast-talking, visionary, myth-busting black comedy of the afterlife narrated by a hopeful non-believer. Kirby's hilarious and poignant ninth collection - which opens with Elvis as Virgil guiding us through the afterlife - imagines where the dead go when they die, what they wear when they get there, and whether Heaven or Hell throws a better party."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Elvis, Be My Psychopomp	p. 3
Merry Hell	p. 8
Doughboy's Bitch	p. 11
Dogs Who Are Poets and Movie Stars	p. 14
Terrible Swift Sword	p. 17
The Only Good Question	p. 22
All Earthly Hues	p. 27
Mopery With Intent to Creep	p. 32
The Measurator	p. 34
Die Meistersinger	p. 37
Hello, I Must Be Going	p. 40
The Temple Gate Called Beautiful	p. 47
The Knowledge	p. 53
The Secret Room	p. 58
Letter Home on My Birthday, November 29, 2002	p. 61
Mountain With Dead People and Dogs	p. 64
Sex and Candy	p. 71
The Mysteries	p. 73
Note From Underground	p. 78
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

From “Hello, I Must Be Going”:

. . . when it was time for her to go, she didn’t grumble;
she just left. And I, who shared her indifference
to any hope for an afterlife yet feared I might start shouting
for a confessor when my own time comes, I said to myself,
yes, that’s it, that’s what you do. I said to myself,
this is the real knowledge: that there’s no knowledge.