Sighting and Other Poems of Faith: Selected Poems

By John Robert Lee

John Robert Lee has been described as the foremost Caribbean Christian writer of his generation with a truly incarnational view of faith, anchored in the reality of human experience and expressed in richly textured images of Caribbean landscapes, dress, street life, music, dance and his native Creole language.
The selected poems in Sighting and other poems of faith mark the pilgrims progress of this writer over three decades. In the poems he sees his life and experiences through the lens of the Christian faith, yet, in the words of Nobel laureate Derek Walcott, his Saint Lucian contemporary, you dont get in the poetry anything that is, in a sense, preachy or self-advertising in terms of its morality.
His is a poetry that is rooted in the flesh and blood reality of his times, even as he looks beyond to the transcendent promises of his faith.
St. Lucia, Boston, the Haitian earthquake of 2010 are the scenes to which he turns his perceptive gaze, with a poetry that is remarkably mature. The poetry is accessible to anyone who loves a craftsman who turns the language into startling and provocative images.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 17, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483619835

John Robert Lee

John Robert Lee (b. 1948) has published several collections of poetry. Derek Walcott, Nobel laureate 1992, observes: “Robert Lee has been a scrupulous poet, that’s the biggest virtue that he has, and it’s not a common virtue in poets, to be scrupulous and modest in the best sense, not to overextend the range of the truth of his emotions, not to go for the grandiose. He is a Christian poet obviously. You don’t get in the poetry anything that is, in a sense, preachy or self-advertising in terms of its morality. He is a fine poet.” He lives in Saint Lucia.

Book preview

133504-LEE1-PBint-LSI.pdf

Castries, Saint Lucia

Easter 2013

Copyright © 2013 by John Robert Lee. 133504-LEE1

Library of Congress Control Number:   2013906140

ISBN:   Softcover    978-1-4836-1981-1

ISBN:   Hardcover   978-1-4836-1982-8

ISBN:   Ebook         978-1-4836-1983-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 04/18/2013

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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Acknowledgements:

Some of these poems have appeared in BIM (Barbados); Carib Arts; Catholic Chronicle (St.Lucia); The Crusader (St. Lucia); EnterText (UK); The New Voices (Trinidad & Tobago); Poetry Wales; Small Axe; Trinidad & Tobago Review; and in a number of anthologies. This collection includes work from earlier titles of the author viz: The Prodigal (1983), Possessions (1984), Saint Lucian (1988), Clearing ground (1991), Translations (1993), Artefacts (2000), Canticles [2007], elemental: new and selected poems [2008]; and from new, unpublished work.

Cover illustration: Photograph of Morne Gimie, Saint Lucia’s highest mountain (3145 ft) by John Robert Lee.

(c) Photo credits: J.R. Lee – for poems: Prodigal, Possessions, Seed, Note, Silver Point, elemental, Canticles, Incarnation, So faith, Basket, Heart’s rooms, Copiapo; Shaul Schwarz: Cathedral; Casimir Joseph: Painting of boats; Caravaggio: The incredulity of St. Thomas; Copiapo photos: TV news and Caravaggio: Supper at Emmaus; Unknown photographer: rosary in Cathedral; girl in Basket. Author photo: Marion Nelson & Allen Sherman.

Grateful thanks to:

Kamau Brathwaite, who inspired this book.

Msgr. Patrick ‘Paba’ Anthony; Macdonald Dixon;

and Veronica, companion of faith.

This publication is made possible with the generous support of

HILFORD AND THECLA DETERVILLE

SAINT LUCIA

In Memoriam

In%20Memoriam%20image040813.tif

Olive Durant neé Deterville Mommy Du

December 30 1925 – September 30 2012.

Contents

Prodigal

Sighting: Easter, 1983

Possessions

Sanctuary

Ground

Seed

Exodus

Church

Report

Note

From Silver Point, Easter

Elemental

Canticles

Incarnation

So, Faith Is Certain

Cathedral

At Capernaum, Boats

In Caravaggio’s Ikon

Basket Of Prayers

My Heart Holds Rooms

Poems Of Copiapó

For

The Church

To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious Presence without fault and with great joy — to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

- Jude 24, 25.

"My Lord what a morning,

When the stars begin to fall."

                          -Spiritual

PRODIGAL

‘And when he came to himself…’ (Luke 15:17)

(for Kendel and Jane Hippolyte)

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(i)

Father:         ‘Do you hear, you all,

the brittle, barking ghosts of dogs down Sans Souci?

Do you hear, you all,

the bawling boloms up and down the village streets?

This night is hot wind which is bringing fear

deep inside the bowels.

Do you hear you all,