Remembering Jesus: Sonnets and Songs

by John Leax

In a series of dramatic monologues, first-century men and women-some real, some imaginary-remember, often from the perspective of old age, their encounters with Jesus and reflect on the significance of those encounters. Some comprehend and welcome him as Messiah. Others comprehend him only as an extraordinary figure and remain puzzled by their memories. A few are angered by him and bitterly reject any claim their encounter might make on them. The monologues and songs are arranged to be read simply as a book of poems or as a series of meditations spanning the ministry of Jesus to be read one a day during the season of Lent.

Genres: Poetry

60 pages, Paperback

First published March 20, 2014

Reviews

[John Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent sonnets looking at Gospel stories from unusual perspectives, although they often seem more interesting as poetic exercises than spiritually alive and engaging.

[Patrick Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contemporary poetry can sometimes be a bit inaccessible, but this is not like most contemporary poetry. John Leax takes characters from New Testament stories, or sometimes invents characters incidental to these stories, and speaks through them in the form of sonnets. Like good historical fiction, these sonnets take the reader to the time of the original events and give the reader a sense of what ordinarily life was like for people who lived in the time of those events.

The writing is unapologetically from a Christian perspective but is not preachy or didactic. In fact, there is ample ambiguity in the message of many of these poems. In the book discussion group for which I read this collection, it was clear that these poems could be approached and understood differently by each individual reader.