Nicholas Samaras*

Nicholas Samaras may have been expected to deliver a quick follow-up to his book Hands of the Saddlemaker, which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award back in 1991. He didn't. That follow-up will be delivered by The Ashland Poetry Press in March of 2014. One reason for the delay, is that his new manuscript—American Psalm, World Psalm—consists of 150 new poems: a large undertaking.

Yes, these are psalms—150 of them to emulate the Psalms of scripture. As Samaras has written in his preface: "I began this writing because I always perceived the Biblical Psalms to be pure songs, as the most powerful of rhythms and choruses." His psalms are reminiscent in tone to those written by King David, Asaph and the Sons of Korah. They also remind me of Leonard Cohen's Book of Mercy, although more consistently demonstrating a spirit of submission.

I am honoured that Nicholas Samaras contacted me concerning American Psalm, World Psalm. The following is the 26th psalm in the collection. This is the first time it has appeared anywhere.

Psalm of Belief and Unbelief

Lord, although I know you are there,
let me know you are there.

Lord, I know you are with me
but be with me.

I know you hear my every breath
but hear me, Lord.

I am the draft at the insulated window,
the lingering child in the adult.

I am the light overcome by night,
the persistent wavering that calls out,

Lord, although I know you are there,
let me know you are there.

As I know you are with me, be with me
while I overcome myself, Lord—and hear

my every breath.

*This is the second Kingdom Poets post about Nicholas Samaras: first post

Posted with permission of the poet.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. His new poetry collection, Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis, is available from Wipf & Stock as is his earlier award-winning collection, Poiema.

Wilmer Mills

Wilmer Mills (1969—2011) is an American poet and painter, influenced by the formal techniques of such poets as Robert Frost and Richard Wilbur. He grew up, first in Brazil—as the son of Presbyterian missionaries—and later in his home state of Louisiana. For several years, he and his young family lived in a bungalow in Sewanee, Tennessee which he had built himself. His poems have appeared in many journals, and in the Penguin Anthology of Contemporary Younger Poets. He died at age 41, less than three months after being diagnosed with liver cancer.

He only had one full-length book of poems published in his lifetime, Light for the Orphans (2002). Fortunately, the University of Evansville Press has just published his Selected Poems, which also includes newer poems and some from his earlier chapbook, Right as Rain (1999).

The following poem first appeared in First Things.

Near Starbucks

A homeless woman sleeps outside the door.
She smells of urine so the customers
Who eat brioche and talk about the poor
Step wide of her in winter and in summer.
But she has noticed them in their retreat
Of tea and café latte ambiance.
Oh, yes, she sees their pious nonchalance.
They give her quarters on the holidays
And she would give them stories with her gaze:
A childhood served on white enamel plates;
A father's drunk abuse; teen runaway;
The search for something—love, or merely dates—;
A candy-wrapper life in lingerie.
But eye contact is precious on the street.
She takes their pocket change and falls asleep.

And I'm no better in my arrogance
And its complacent little cubicle.
If I could be like Jesus, just for once,
I'd wake her up and make her beautiful.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. His new poetry collection, Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis, is available from Wipf & Stock as is his earlier award-winning collection, Poiema.

Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh (1554—1618) is a British explorer, soldier and poet. As a patron of the arts, he supported Edmund Spenser as he was writing The Faerie Queen. Much of Raleigh's own poetic output, though, was destroyed.

In 1578 he sailed to America, and by 1585 sponsored the first English colony there. He is credited with bringing both potatoes and tobacco back to Britain, and establishing the fashion for smoking at court. He was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, who knighted him, and had him appointed captain of the Queen's Guard. In 1592, however, she discovered he had secretly married one of her ladies in waiting. She had them both imprisoned, for a time, in the Tower of London.

Of his own life he said, "I have lived a sinful life, in all sinful callings; for I have been a soldier, a captain, a sea-captain, and a courtier, which are all places of wickedness and vice." He also expressed, "we have all remained in the shadow of death till it pleased Christ to climb the tree of the cross for our enlightening and redemption."

During the reign of James I, he was charged with treason, and was incarcerated in the Tower of London for another twelve years. By 1616 he was released. The next time Raleigh was imprisoned, however, the king had him beheaded. The following poem is said to have been written by Raleigh the night before his execution, and in anticipation of it.

Epitaph

Even such is Time, which takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, and all we have,
And pays us but with age and dust,
Who in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wandered all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our days.
But from which earth and grave and dust
The Lord shall raise me up, I trust.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. His new poetry collection, Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis, is available from Wipf & Stock as is his earlier award-winning collection, Poiema.

Tania Runyan*

Tania Runyan is the poetry editor for the literary journal, Relief. She has just had her third full-length collection, Second Sky, appear as part of the Poiema Poetry Series from Cascade Books. She has had poems appear in such fine journals as Poetry, The Christian Century, Image, and Southern Poetry Review. Like her previous collections, Second Sky interacts closely with scripture. In this case the poems connect with incidents in the life of Paul the Apostle, or with things he wrote in his letters.

In talking about how the poems in Second Sky gloss scripture, Jeanne Murray Walker wrote, "There are layers and layers here to uncover. I will discover them slowly, but meanwhile, I love the fierce brio of these poems. I love their intelligence and urgency."

In an interview with David Harrity of Antler, Tania explained how her interactions with scripture can turn into poetry. "[W]hen I come across a passage, even a word or phrase that moves me, I allow it to shine on a few different areas in my life, like memories, struggles, and meaningful images, and I journal about those. Soon a poem starts to take shape—and the scripture becomes more solidified in my mind as a result of those personal associations."

The following poem is from Second Sky. I am pleased to have been able to assist Tania Runyan as the editor for this fine collection.

The Greatest of These
—1 Corinthians 13

Embraces the woman whose child screams
on the floor of the cereal aisle.
Enters the friend's new mansion,
lifts eyes to the skylights, gives thanks.
Yields the last word on the Facebook fight.
Looks the frowning barista in the eye.
Takes a breath and thanks God
there is even a zipper to get stuck.
Sends a gift to the wall-punching uncle.
Glances away from the handcuffed boys
on the side of the road and prays.
Smiles and listens to the grandmother complain
about her knees, rubs the knees,
ladles another bowl of soup.
Believes there is a reason that slumped man
in the alley was born. Trusts he'll believe it.
Endures the quiet, thankless song of work.
Echoes long after the cymbals have died.

*This is the second Kingdom Poets post about Tania Runyan: first post, third post.

Posted with permission of the poet.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. His new poetry collection, Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis, is available from Wipf & Stock as is his earlier award-winning collection, Poiema.

William Blake*

William Blake (1759—1827) is one of the most influential poets of the English language. At the time of his death, however, he was little known as an artist, and even less known as a poet. Besides producing engravings for his own poetry, he also made illustrations for such works as Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Milton's Paradise Lost, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, the Book of Job, and Dante's Divine Comedy.

According to The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Blake said "all he knew was in the Bible", which he called "the Great Code of Art." He was not a very orthodox thinker, preferring to write in figurative ways such "prophetic" books as The Four Zoas, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and Jerusalem. The following is from his Songs of Innocence and of Experience.

On Anothers Sorrow

Can I see anothers woe,
And not be in sorrow too.
Can I see anothers grief,
And not seek for kind relief.

Can I see a falling tear,
And not feel my sorrows share,
Can a father see his child,
Weep, nor be with sorrow fill'd.

Can a mother sit and hear,
An infant groan an infant fear—
No no never can it be.
Never never can it be.

And can he who smiles on all
Hear the wren with sorrows small,
Hear the small birds grief & care
Hear the woes that infants bear—

And not sit beside the nest
Pouring pity in their breast,
And not sit the cradle near
Weeping tear on infants tear.

And not sit both night & day,
Wiping all our tears away.
O! no never can it be.
Never never can it be.

He doth give his joy to all.
He becomes an infant small.
He becomes a man of woe
He doth feel the sorrow too.

Think not, thou canst sigh a sigh,
And thy maker is not by.
Think not thou canst weep a tear,
And thy maker is not near.

O! he gives to us his joy,
That our grief he may destroy
Till our grief is fled & gone
He doth sit by us and moan

*This is the second Kingdom Poets post about William Blake: first post, third post.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. His new poetry collection, Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis, is available from Wipf & Stock as is his earlier award-winning collection, Poiema.

G.K. Chesterton*

G.K. Chesterton (1874—1936) is a prolific British writer who was very influential in many spheres. His output included fiction, biographies, poetry, drama, journalism, theology, and literary and art criticism. His essay collection What's Wrong with the World (1910) was very influential on Marshall McLuhan, and Chesterton's The Everlasting Man (1925), contributed to the conversion to Christianity of C.S. Lewis. G.K. Chesterton's first poetry collection, Greybeards At Play appeared in 1900.

In 1893 he went through a crisis of skepticism and began experimenting with the occult. He later renewed his Christian faith and married Frances Blogg, who was a stabilizing spiritual influence upon him. Another significant spiritual influence was his friend Hilaire Belloc.

He and George Bernard Shaw often engaged in rollicking debates, disagreeing at every turn, and yet in the end they express deep respect for one another, and were good friends. According to his autobiography, Chesterton and Shaw played cowboys in a silent film which was never released.

A Christmas Carol

The Christ-child lay on Mary’s lap,
His hair was like a light.
(O weary, weary were the world,
But here is all aright.)

The Christ-child lay on Mary’s breast
His hair was like a star.
(O stern and cunning are the kings,
But here the true hearts are.)

The Christ-child lay on Mary’s heart,
His hair was like a fire.
(O weary, weary is the world,
But here the world’s desire.)

The Christ-child stood on Mary’s knee,
His hair was like a crown,
And all the flowers looked up at Him,
And all the stars looked down.

*This is the second Kingdom Poets post about G.K. Chesterton: first post, third post.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. His new poetry collection, Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis, is available from Wipf & Stock as is his earlier award-winning collection, Poiema.

Ben Jonson

Ben Jonson (1572—1637) is less well known today than his contemporary, William Shakespeare, although in his own time Jonson was the more popular playwright. Shakespeare was one of the actors in the first production of Jonson's play Every Man in His Humour (1598).

That was also the year Jonson was imprisoned for killing a fellow actor in a duel. He claimed "benefit of clergy", a loophole which provided a lesser charge if he recited Psalm 51 and forfeited his possessions. While in prison Jonson converted to Catholicism. He remained a Catholic for twelve years before returning to the Church of England after King Henri IV of France, who was tolerant of Protestants, was assassinated by forces loyal to the Pope.

In the 1620s a group of younger poets, including Robert Herrick and Sir John Suckling, referred to themselves as "Sons of Ben" or the "Tribe of Ben" in honour of Ben Jonson.

A Hymn on the Nativity of My Saviour

I sing the birth was born tonight,
The Author both of life and light;
The angels so did sound it,
And like the ravished shepherds said,
Who saw the light, and were afraid,
Yet searched, and true they found it.

The Son of God, the eternal King,
That did us all salvation bring,
And freed the soul from danger;
He whom the whole world could not take,
The Word, which heaven and earth did make,
Was now laid in a manger.

The Father's wisdom willed it so,
The Son's obedience knew no "No,"
Both wills were in one stature;
And as that wisdom had decreed,
The Word was now made Flesh indeed,
And took on Him our nature.

What comfort by Him do we win?
Who made Himself the Prince of sin,
To make us heirs of glory?
To see this Babe, all innocence,
A Martyr born in our defense,
Can man forget this story?

This is the first Kingdom Poets post about Ben Jonson: second post.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. His new poetry collection, Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis, is available from Wipf & Stock as is his earlier award-winning collection, Poiema.