DAVID BEACH
Jerusalem Sonnets 1
That Baxter couldn’t finish the sequence
is surely because he saw that the
way to finish a work where the subject was
so much his shortcomings would be to not
be able to: this especially when the
fictional weakness enabled him to
signal the principal real one, his
vanity – at least, a 39 sonnet sequence
is hardly the demons of writer’s block
for most poets; or, indeed, Baxter didn’t
need to be smitten with his own genius
to know he’d hit the ball out of the
park, and was regretting only being
able to manage a 39 poem masterpiece.
is surely because he saw that the
way to finish a work where the subject was
so much his shortcomings would be to not
be able to: this especially when the
fictional weakness enabled him to
signal the principal real one, his
vanity – at least, a 39 sonnet sequence
is hardly the demons of writer’s block
for most poets; or, indeed, Baxter didn’t
need to be smitten with his own genius
to know he’d hit the ball out of the
park, and was regretting only being
able to manage a 39 poem masterpiece.
Jerusalem Sonnets 2
The Lord doesn’t expect lice-infested beards
to be put up with, and a good start is
to shave off the beard. But Baxter not even
considering losing the beard is the least
of the self-satire. If the lice aren’t pearls
of God, don’t they, and their cloudiness,
invite some other reading? Baxter, one
must think, is taking as his metaphor that
the beard equals mind, with the lice what’s
ailing the mind. He’s virtually pronouncing
himself a whited sepulchre; the shaggy,
barefooted, early morning piety a
sham; his blindness not just error but a
matter of being eaten up by error.
to be put up with, and a good start is
to shave off the beard. But Baxter not even
considering losing the beard is the least
of the self-satire. If the lice aren’t pearls
of God, don’t they, and their cloudiness,
invite some other reading? Baxter, one
must think, is taking as his metaphor that
the beard equals mind, with the lice what’s
ailing the mind. He’s virtually pronouncing
himself a whited sepulchre; the shaggy,
barefooted, early morning piety a
sham; his blindness not just error but a
matter of being eaten up by error.
Jerusalem Sonnets 3
The ‘brass rings’ sonnet features a Baxter
(the more so when the tribulations of
his World War One pacifist father are
recalled) ludicrously holier-than-thou: but
the lash of presenting himself like that
can’t be faulted: the whole sequence, in
fact, can be viewed as Baxter giving himself
a thrashing – ‘Twenty strokes are more than
enough’ finding an echo in ‘I had
hoped for fifty sonnets’; with the sequence
stopping at 39 likely an allusion
to Christ’s forty lashes, Baxter darkly
showing pride asserting itself even
in the attempt to be a scourge to it.
(the more so when the tribulations of
his World War One pacifist father are
recalled) ludicrously holier-than-thou: but
the lash of presenting himself like that
can’t be faulted: the whole sequence, in
fact, can be viewed as Baxter giving himself
a thrashing – ‘Twenty strokes are more than
enough’ finding an echo in ‘I had
hoped for fifty sonnets’; with the sequence
stopping at 39 likely an allusion
to Christ’s forty lashes, Baxter darkly
showing pride asserting itself even
in the attempt to be a scourge to it.
Jerusalem Sonnets 4
When, for example, Baxter is irked by
a request to warn the local kids off
drugs, but needs to occupy the moral
high ground, so utters some blather against
contemporary society, he has to be
sending himself up. Or one can’t quite
tell. Baxter’s critique of himself hits so
forcefully because he achieves such a
guileless, impromptu tone it’s hard to believe
the sonnets are a critique. His verse
epistle may be as much a device
as any letter in a Restoration
comedy, but has an effect simply of
‘Behold the man’, Baxter being Baxter.
a request to warn the local kids off
drugs, but needs to occupy the moral
high ground, so utters some blather against
contemporary society, he has to be
sending himself up. Or one can’t quite
tell. Baxter’s critique of himself hits so
forcefully because he achieves such a
guileless, impromptu tone it’s hard to believe
the sonnets are a critique. His verse
epistle may be as much a device
as any letter in a Restoration
comedy, but has an effect simply of
‘Behold the man’, Baxter being Baxter.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Beach lives in Wellington. His third sonnet collection, Scenery and Agriculture, is scheduled for publication by VUP early in 2012.