H.F. Gould

H.F. Gould (1789―1865) is a Massachusetts poet whose father was among those who fought in the first battle of the American Revolution. While Hannah Flagg Gould was still a child, her mother died, and for many years she dedicated herself to keeping house for her father. Her first poetry collection, consisting primarily of poems that had appeared in magazines and annuals, was put together by her friends in 1832 without her knowledge. Her work became quite popular, which led to ten further collections eventually being published.

Although she never came close to his imaginative skill, Gould was much taken with the poetry of William Blake ― quoting Blake’s comment, "my business is not to gather gold, but to make glorious shapes expressing God-like sentiments."

She wrote abolitionist poetry, nature poetry, children's poetry, and poems of faith ― some of which have become hymns.

A Name in the Sand

Alone I walked the ocean strand;
A pearly shell was in my hand:
I stooped and wrote upon the sand
My name—the year—the day.
As onward from the spot I passed,
One lingering look behind I cast;
A wave came rolling high and fast,
And washed my lines away.

And so, methought, ’t will shortly be
With every mark on earth from me:
A wave of dark oblivion’s sea
Will sweep across the place
Where I have trod the sandy shore
Of time, and been, to be no more,
Of me—my day—the name I bore,
To leave nor track nor trace.

And yet, with Him who counts the sands
And holds the waters in his hands,
I know a lasting record stands
Inscribed against my name,
Of all this mortal part has wrought,
Of all this thinking soul has thought,
And from these fleeting moments caught
For glory or for shame.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the author of five poetry collections including Angelicus (2021, Cascade) ― a book of poems written from the point-of-view of angels. His books are available through Wipf & Stock.

Michael Symmons Roberts*

Michael Symmons Roberts is a British poet, broadcaster, and librettist ― collaborating often with the Scottish classical composer James MacMillan. His most recent poetry collection is Ransom (2021, Jonathan Cape). Carol Ann Duffy has called him “The clearest and purest voice currently sounding in British poetry.”

The following poem is from Ransom, and is the fifteenth poem from the central section “Vingt Regards,” which he explains “was written in response to Olivier Messiaen’s set of twenty short piano pieces about the incarnation: Vingt Regards sur l‘Enfant-Jésus.” The poems were commissioned by pianist Cordelia Williams who was curating a series of Messiaen events around the UK back in 2015.

For these poems Michael Symmons Roberts reflects on the various contemplations of the Christ child, but also on life in German-occupied Paris during 1944 where Messianen was composing his Twenty Contemplations of the Infant Jesus, and simultaneously Marcel Carné was working on his cinematic masterpiece Les Enfant du Paradis. He has said, “the poems are an attempt to explore the same theological or mystical ground as the music ― the scandal and sheer risk of the incarnation, the liberating power of it.”

Rehearsal For The Death Scene

If trees could walk like men,
beautiful boy-god, I would bear you
on my shoulders through this city,
show you every boulevard and alley,
every market stall and park.

You would tower above
the cavalcades and rallies,
peer into penthouse suites and boardrooms
witness to so many acts of cruelty and love,
safe among my needles.

Then when you nod tired
in the cold and thickening dark
I would stand on the riverbank,
as long slow barges mutter by,
and sing you to sleep in my many tongues:

the bat-high silvered songs
of linden, plane; slow lullabies
of quince and medlar from the gardens;
long laments of empress, foxglove
in the windless squares.

I would carry you for years,
until you grow so heavy that they
nail you up to keep you here. It is needless,
because even if my back broke,
I would never let you fall.

Posted with permission of the poet.

*This is the third Kingdom Poets post about Michael Symmons Roberts: first post, second post.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the author of five poetry collections including Angelicus (2021, Cascade) ― a book of poems written from the point-of-view of angels. His books are available through Wipf & Stock.

F.R. Scott*

F.R. Scott (1899―1985) in some circles is best known as a constitutional lawyer and political theoretician; he served as Dean of Law at McGill University, and was a political activist for more than forty years ― helping to lay the foundations for what is now Canada’s New Democratic Party. He considered, however, his poetry to be his most important contribution.

His father was an Anglican priest, poet, and a strong supporter of social justice issues ― who was returned to Montreal by the army in 1919 for being publicly in favour of the Winnipeg General Strike. F.R. Scott’s sense of human worth and dignity ― despite the secular forces within leftist political movements ― remained grounded in his Christian faith.

Scott was an early champion of modernist poetry in Canada, establishing little magazines in the 1920s. In 1936, he and his friend A.J.M. Smith edited New Provinces, the first anthology of modern Canadian verse.

The Winter 1967 issue of the journal Canadian Literature was subtitled “A Salute to F.R. Scott” and featured an essay by A.J.M. Smith, who said of Scott’s Selected Poems (1966, Oxford University Press) “most of his poems that start out as an image soon become images, and perceptions soon become concepts and blossom in metaphor, analogy, and conceit. Mind comes flooding in.” Smith, like many others, used the word “metaphysical” to describe Scott’s verse, and demonstrates the power of his poems by letting them speak for themselves.

The following poem is from Scott’s 1945 collection Overture (Ryerson Press).

Resurrection

Christ in the darkness, dead,
His own disaster hid.
His hope for man, too soon
Sealed with the outer stone.

This heaven was at hand,
Men saw the promised land,
Yet swiftly, with a nail
Made fast the earlier rule.

All saviours ever to be
Share this dark tragedy;
The vision beyond reach
Becomes the grave of each.

And that of him which rose
Is our own power to choose
Forever, from defeat,
Kingdoms more splendid yet.

Play Easter to this grave
No Christ can ever leave.
It is one man has fallen,
It is ourselves have risen.

*This is the second Kingdom Poets post about F.R. Scott: first post.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the author of five poetry collections including Angelicus (2021, Cascade) ― a book of poems written from the point-of-view of angels. His books are available through Wipf & Stock.

Sally Ito*

Sally Ito is a poet and writer who has four poetry collections, including her new book Heart’s Hydrography (2022, Turnstone). She is an adjunct Professor of English at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg.

Rowan Williams (the former Archbishop of Canterbury) has written about this collection, “Winter landscapes, water landscapes, the landscapes of family love and frustration, and of the soul’s seasons―all these are mapped by Sally Ito with deep compassion and rich tactile imagery. Everyday perceptions made radiant.”

Sally has recently teamed up with Sarah Klassen and Joanne Epp to translate poetry from Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg for Burl Horniachek’s anthology To Heaven’s Rim: The Kingdom Poets Book of World Christian Poetry (2023, Poiema/Cascade).

The following poem Sally Ito wrote for me when I was seeking poetry related to the Biblical Stations of the Cross for Imago’s Toronto Arts Exhibition “Crossings: A Journey to Easter” which was presented in 2022. It is also the final poem in Heart’s Hydrography.

The Cross Speaks

I was a tree once, and of one body
that grew upward into the sky
and downward into the soil.

Many were the seasons of my life
until it ended with the ax.

Only the human would make out of my death
something out of the death of their God,
my dead body carried by him
who will die for them.

Still, I will lift him, and become the tree I once was
and I will bear him, as he bore me
and be planted once more
in the dark soil of my Creator’s nurturing.

Posted with permission of the poet.

*This is the second Kingdom Poets post about Sally Ito: first post.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the author of five poetry collections including Angelicus (2021, Cascade) ― a book of poems written from the point-of-view of angels. His books are available through Wipf & Stock.