He is Managing Editor for the poetry archive Poetry.sg. His poetry is widely published; I personally have selected his poems for Ekstasis, and for Poems For Ephesians, as well as for a forthcoming anthology of Christmas poems in the Poiema Poetry Series.
Jonathan Chan has said, “matters of faith are integral and inherent to my writing” — while Christian Wiman has said, “Jonathan Chan’s poems are distinctively musical, acutely observed, and existentially engaged at the deepest level. They are bracing to discover.”
The following poem is from bright sorrow.
eternity
after Marilynne Robinson
and so the old man said
eternity is a thing we have
no hope of understanding.
things happen the way
that they do. a note follows another
in a song. a song is itself and
not another. a song is a song
itself. eternity holds space for
all these songs. for a song is
like a life, resounding in a kind
of tune. lives are what they were
and have been. lives are not merely
every worst thing. a mother prays
for her scoundrel son to be taken
up into heaven. Lila thinks this
an injustice to the scoundrels
with no mothers. people try
to get by. people are good
by their own lights. people take
all the courage that they have
to be good. for in eternity,
to eternity, eternity is just
a thing.
Posted with permission of the poet.
Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the author of five poetry collections including Angelicus (2021, Poiema/Cascade), and three anthologies — available through Wipf & Stock. His new book The Role of the Moon, inspired by the Metaphysical Poets, is forthcoming from Paraclete Press.
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