.

Had

I held you in the fields of Hay beside
The Wye and on an afternoon that cleared
To brilliance, although the sun soon would
Sink to an evening in which darkness neared,
Nothing so near as never—we could not—
Distracted us from purposes of each
Other. We said that scene would be the root
Of similar flowers grown for our sake.
I sheer forgot, as we returned, what time
It was – euphoric in the spring you made—
And how long before blasted winter came;
My dear, how having loving becomes had.

Those wasting acres stretch behind, beside
The Wye, like ground ploughed by the salt, blunt tide.

.

Poet’s Note: Hay on Wye (a river) is a small market town in Wales renowned for its second-hand bookshops as well as being rural and agricultural

.

.

Spirit

Will they say—congregated in a room
With no windows on an abnormal day
Weatherwise, raining like piss, I entombed
Outside, funeral rites for those who stayed
Garbled in a vacancy of wind—that James,
No longer with us, yet in death like life’s
Present? And—at that naming of my name—
Feel me creep back stealthily, like a knife
To a heart ensuring its beating stops?
They cower. Awesome with power derived from living,
Now with the supplement of death I’m tops:
My ‘am’ is round them, causing … their bereaving!

After? My self leaves nothing to inherit;
But you go on creating, giving Spirit.

.

.

James Sale has had over 50 books published, most recently, “Mapping Motivation for Top Performing Teams” (Routledge, 2021). He has been nominated by The Hong Kong Review for the 2022 Pushcart Prize for poetry, has won first prize in The Society of Classical Poets 2017 annual competition, and performed in New York in 2019. He is a regular contributor to The Epoch Times. His most recent poetry collection is “StairWell.” For more information about the author, and about his Dante project, visit https://englishcantos.home.blog. To subscribe to his brief, free and monthly poetry newsletter, contact him at James@motivationalmaps.com

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The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.


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33 Responses

  1. Jeremiah Johnson

    Regarding “Spirit”: The knife – the “stealthy creeping” – the reflection on one’s own funeral. Feels like a fun cross between Dickinson and Poe. I like the mix of bone-chilling “what if my spirit crept back in” mixed with the reflection on The Spirit which in fact continues to operate in the room. An enjoyable sonnet which manages to do a lot in the little convent room of its form.

    Reply
    • Patricia Allred

      On “ Had”, James! What a masterpiece this is! The title threw me, as it is quite unique! I have read the poem several times. For me, it’s akin to opening presents on Christmas morning! Each time I read it, I find more beauty! The imagery is superb! So many brilliant lines, it left me breathless.
      “Nothing so near as never”, will be running like the Wye, through my mind all day! And will comment on “Spirit” later. You are our gift! Thank you.

      Reply
      • James Sale

        Thank you Patricia: love your enthusiasm – and love your imagery: opening Christmas presents on Christmas morning; that’s a good way of thinking about good poetry! Really appreciate you taking the time to respond in this way! Thanks.

  2. ABB

    Love and death are possibly the two most universal human themes, and these two powerful pieces complement each other well–one about the past, and one the future. From epic to lyric, you’re still going strong, James.

    With your blessing, I will read ‘Spirit’ at your funeral.

    Reply
    • James Sale

      You have my blessing, my son; but I ought to warn that I have every intention (through the will of God) to outlive you, and you may wish to reciprocate by letting me know which poem you would bless me to read at your funeral!!! Ha ha ha!!!

      Reply
      • ABB

        Ha, you actually may be right about that. I will have to write a death poem for you as insurance if that is the case.

  3. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Besides pleasures of the past, love often lapses and becomes “like ground ploughed by the salt, blunt tide.” This is such a sad but an inspired way to think of lost love–and the image caused me to think of memories continuing to pour salt in the wounds. “Spirit” is like a preflection (my new word) of our future selves lying on a funeral bier. An inheritance is mortal, but we are ascending to the immortal status in a new spirit filled world. Beautiful images are presented by both and I continue to be a blessed reader to have read what you have written so elegantly.

    Reply
    • James Sale

      Thanks Roy – you are on the short-list (a select number!) of my favourite readers of my work: one loves people who get what one is trying to do! So thanks. Beauty is what we all aim for; let’s keep aiming. You are not on my subscriber list for my monthly 1-page mag on how to write great poetry, let me know if you’d like to be and I’ll add you. Contact me at james@motivationalmaps.com

      Reply
  4. Michael Pietrack

    Great line: “Nothing so near as never“

    What did you mean by “My dear, how having loving becomes had”?

    Reply
    • Joseph S. Salemi

      My reading of the line is this: “having loving” is in the present tense, but “had loving” is in the preterite. It is a description of one of the effects of aging. You once were “having” an active love-life, but now the situation is that you “had” an active love-life. I think the title of the poem (“Had”) zeros in on this idea.

      Both sonnets are about viewing or imagining the close of a life.

      Reply
    • James Sale

      Thanks Michael and Joe. What does it mean? As Socrates observed, poets scarcely know what they mean; readers though have a clearer idea! So, I don’t know what it means, but I would add one thing about what I think it means: the word “had” in English has at least a double meaning: have you ever been ‘had’ (i.e. tricked)? Once I had a love; a love once had me. Ah! The pity of it all …

      Reply
  5. Brian A. Yapko

    “Had” is a masterfully wistful sonnet, James. As I read it, the focus here is on tone rather than that metrical perfection. The self-interrupting (“– we could not –“) and the conversational tone makes me think of this almost as a private personal journal entry. You focus most interestingly on word-choice/place names. There are a hundred place names you could have chosen, but you chose Hay and Wye. I read puns in the names of Hay and Wye in the sense that there is an autumnal association to hay which fits this poem well and, more significantly, a second pun is present in the end with a deeply-felt “why” regarding the wasting away of the past — this why/Wye befits a poem whose wordplay meditates upon how the present falls into the past. I am especially taken by the reinforcement of “wasting” by the imagery of “the salt, blunt tide.” Salt ruins the earth for farmers. And “blunt” is an unexpected adjective for the tide. But not for time, which is pitiless. And I connect blunt to blasted three lines before. If I read this correctly, this is a poem about the corrosive nature of Time. It’s stunning.

    Spirit is also a stunning poem for it’s fascinating premise – to contemplate one’s own funeral. And in doing so, you choose a slightly startling blend of language which is irreverent in some ways, but formal and/or religious in others. That creates such an interesting contrast in tone (“I’m tops” vies with but with words like “bereaving” and “inherit.”) Your “am” is a fascinating word-choice for your spirit — you could easily have said “soul” but you went with something less religious – and moreso! Again those contrasts! That “you” in the last line is a mystery for me. I take this as an address to God, but I’m not certain since you’ve detached your “am” so that it could now also be addressed, if that’s your intent. You is not capitalized but “Spirit” is suggesting the Holy Spirit but possibly a fusion of your spirit with God’s. But, in the end, you are certainly setting up a contrast between mortal man’s finite nature (that self who leaves nothing…) and immortal God’s eternal creativity. James, you leave me wanting more!

    .

    Reply
  6. James Sale

    Thanks Brian – you like Roy are one of my favourite readers for your deep readings of the lines; not to mention one of my favourite contemporary poets for your own emotional and technical resourcefulness! I am so glad this left you wanting more; indeed, we all want more of that infinite Spirit who has created the whole cosmos and whose Reality contrasts so starkly, so absolutely, with our own. As CS Lewis so perceptively observed: the appearance of Christ to His disciples in the upper room was not the result of his ghost floating through the solid walls, but rather of the walls being insubstantial compared with the ‘reality’ that stepped through them. My current work is really on DoorWay (my Paradiso) and I hope to have more extracts from it to share with SCP readers soon. Thanks so much – your comments are really inspiring, and though I have already said it: congratulations again on your fine win. You have been a great friend of, and poet for, the SCP.

    Reply
  7. Daniel Kemper

    The thing that left me pondering about “Had,” was how the love object could very nearly be a book. Under close reading, the idea doesn’t hold up, but seems mention worthy.

    In “Spirit,” I like the evocation of the concept of “generativity” (and where all generativity ultimately comes from).

    Not much left of what I had to say, except to “ditto” Brian and Joe.

    Reply
    • James Sale

      Daniel – you have a fabulous imagination! For a second there, I thought: was it a book I was holding, they are precious to me? Then, I recalled clearly: no, it was flesh and blood. I like ‘generativity’ – thanks for your kind remarks!

      Reply
  8. Shaun C. Duncan

    A fine pair of sonnets, James. “Had” is beautifully elegiac and the line “My dear, how having loving becomes had” is quite exquisite, suggestive of so much in its simplicity, much like the phrase “my ‘am'” in the delightfully wicked “Spirit.” Both sonnets say a lot with great economy, which is the mark of fine poetry.

    Reply
    • James Sale

      Thanks Shaun – always great to know people respond to your work so positively. And BTW, congratulations on your marvellous achievement in this year’s SCP competition. That was a very fine performance.

      Reply
  9. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    James, I like the way the two sonnets focus on tenses and time. For me there’s a touch of T.S. Eliot about them. There is a dreamlike quality to each. The words and ideas are familiar, yet clear meanings are just out of reach… they hover on the periphery like mocking ghosts of the past, present, and future… teasing this reader with their wonder and mystery. These sonnets are mesmerizing… disturbing, beguiling, and strangely beautiful.

    Reply
    • James Sale

      Love your list of adjectives, Susan – a marvellous response! I have some vestigial memory that it was exactly these words that Mike was using about you? Or did I invent that? Anyway, how we struggle to live in these ‘liminal spaces’ that only memory and imagination can touch! Ghost-like indeed. Thanks so much.

      Reply
  10. Margaret Coats

    Ah, Hay on Wye! How could it possibly be that Mr. Kemper above thought of a book as the love object? I recall having had a number of them who wanted to be carried away. The first sonnet is intriguing yet familiar; I know the meaning (as you say readers do), but ask myself how to read it. James, your metrical effects with word accent often surprise, but in these two sonnets, there seem more pronunciation wonders than usual. The couplets always bring the music to a resolution, along a tricksy path at times. When you forget the time in “Had,” you lose the root and its flowers grow elsewhere, if at all. It is indeed only the momentary lovers who promise that it will. In “Spirit,” I admire how pronouncing of the name “James” brings forth your “am.” These are the volte that stand out in this reading, anyway.

    Reply
    • James Sale

      Thanks Margaret – I guess when you go to Hay-on-Wye you do kind of fall in love with books!!! I am glad the first sonnet was familiar – in fact, it was my response to Shakespeare’s sonnet 73, so you indeed may find an echo or two. As for tricksy, is it the Hobbits who are tricksy or Golem who coins the word about them – so projecting what he is in himself? Who can say? But I admire your critical acumen in spotting something that I would never have publicly said about my own work (as you realise clearly that poets are intoxicated by words): the drawing out of ‘am’ from my own name, ‘James’, which was a first order fnord that I never thought anyone would or could notice!!! Well done. Of course, whether it makes the poem any better, other critics have to decide, but that you enjoyed it, is fabulous!!

      Reply
  11. Adam Sedia

    Both of these sonnets demonstrate how classical form adapts well to modern style. The informal, conversational tone (including words like “piss” and “tops”), frequent enjambment, and use of half-rhyme are all hallmarks of “new formalism,” masking the formal structure while adhering to it. Both poems struck me as having a very contemporary tone and sensibility, very much dwelling in our own times – and showing the vitality of the sonnet form.

    Both poems also have that certain elusive quality that most contemporary poetry overdoes, but here imbues the poems with just the right amount.

    It was good to read your shorter works here, James.

    Reply
  12. James Sale

    Thanks Adam, and for mentioning, ‘good to read shorter works’, as the English Cantos have been all-consuming for me. I am glad you feel the vitality of the sonnet form in this, as it was quite explicitly for me a homage to Shakespeare’s sonnet 73, but as you clearly realise: you cannot imitate Shakespeare (or any other great classic) in an archaic way – you have to attempt to bring the language up-to-date. I feel I succeeded, but it’s great to get reassurance from someone who is also a master of verse. Appreciate your comments.

    Reply
  13. Anthony Watts

    Having read the comments, James, I see you are not short of adoring fans, so I hope you won’t mind me striking a critical note. The third line of “Had” seems a bit awkward to my ear – the way the line comes down like a hammer on the “unimportant” word “would”. Having said that, there are some beautiful lines in these poems, and the clinching couplets of both are perfect.

    Reply
    • James Sale

      Love it – my deepest desire is for you, too, Anthony, to become one of my ‘adoring fans’!!! Really – please – will you? Now on the more substantial matter of your critique, one must say that one cannot reason through technical matters someone into liking a line, but the point you raise is really interesting, and the line is deliberately constructed this way. Here’s why:
      …To brilliance, although the sun soon would
      Sink to …
      To increase its metrical ‘perfection’ the line should be:
      …To brilliance, although the sun would soon
      Sink to …
      That would be sweet, especially with the concatenating alliteration. But … that is the point: the awkward transposing of the words in this way mirrors the ‘sink’ that follows through the enjambement. In other words, we cannot really stress ‘would’ with a full stress – the stress has to ‘sink’, as it were, to the next line. Earlier in the line, the word ‘brilliance’ requires two stresses, but the second – ‘-ance’ falls at the metrical point of the second iamb, and so carries it – but proleptically prepares us for – what Eliot might have called – the ‘dying fall’ of ‘would’. I hope that makes sense? Whether it works or not, perhaps my adoring fans might let me know? And you too, given my explanation, does that improve the line for you? Sometimes rationality can affect our aesthetic appreciation. Finally, given that you are not a regular frequenter of these pages, may I say to the SCP, what a fabulous poet you are: do check out any of Tony’s 5 collections everyone!!! Oh! And finally, finally, thanks for liking the concluding couplets so much!

      Reply
      • Anthony Watts

        James – your explanation of line 3 makes perfect sense, but what convinces the intellect doesn’t necessarily convince the ear. Maybe my ear will catch up with increasing familiarity.

  14. Stephen Binns

    Lovely, James. In “Had,” like Wordsworth in “Tintern Abbey,” you’ve given the lines the “soft inland murmur” of the river itself–lines “felt along the heart” indeed.

    Reply
    • James Sale

      I am not sure what most excites me Stephen: that you love the line as is, or that you too must be one of my ‘adoring fans’. Either – both are welcome!!! Thank you so much. It is so difficult these days – what with Beyonce and Taylor Swift et al – to get adoring fans: the competition is so stiff. But you give me hope!

      Reply
      • Anthony Watts

        I’m sure your “adoring fans” are of a higher quality, James, than those of the two ladies you mention, even though they maybe somewhat fewer in number.

  15. Pepper Jensen

    Excellent work!

    “Nothing so near as never,” and “How having loving becomes had,” are a few of my favorite lines from the first work “Had.” The poem really evokes a very relatable story we are transported to experience.

    “My ‘am’ is round them, causing … their bereaving!
    After? My self leaves nothing to inherit;
    But you go on creating, giving Spirit.” Beautiful lines from the second work! Such an interesting concept of an apparition of the dead, experiencing his own funeral!

    Reply
  16. James Sale

    Thanks Pepper – sorry for delay in replying! Glad you find some of these lines beautiful – beauty is a permanent objective in my poetry and my life!!!

    Reply

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