The English Cantos is a horror tale told in beautiful, lyrical style. Based on his near-death experience in Ward 17 of Royal Bournemouth Hospital, James Sale takes us on a journey into a contemporary vision of hell and heaven modelled on Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. As Virgil guided Dante, so too Dante will guide James on this incredible journey.
"The writing is superb – the poem grabs you by the throat and takes you on a journey through your own psyche triggering all kinds of insights – just like good poetry should. The imagery is beautiful and I cannot recommend Hellward highly enough. This is a poem for now – for post-pandemic - as we reflect on the new world we want to rebuild."

"Not Lost gathers together in a single volume two previously published collections, The Lyre Speaks True and Divine Comedies, he employs a variety of structures to fulfill those three ends to which poetry aspires: meaning, truth, and beauty. Here is a poet with form and discipline. While not rigidly attaching himself to perfect rhyme, he manages to achieve a striking parallel between sound and sense" - Andrew Benson Brown

On the 23rd July 2011 I collapsed in the car as my wife was driving me to visit my mother and brother in Essex. I was taken to hospital and there for about three months, with brief interludes, I remained. I had two major operations lasting over 5 hours each. Two sarcomas were removed, one the size of a grapefruit, the other the size of an avocado, both in my small intestine, and one very dangerously placed. Some 30% of my small intestines were removed and then for nearly five weeks I couldn't eat or even drink water. I lost over 56 pounds in weight and became remarkably weak. In the darkness, the light of the Spirit shone and I felt the healing, and knew from the revelation that was given me that I would leave that hospital, for as my son, Joseph, subsequently said: my mission was not yet done. These poems, then, are the fruit of that experience. I have been writing poems for over 45 years and if anything could, death has deepened my sense of vocation around the magic and the healing power of words.

To Be a Pilgrim is the sixth major collection of poetry by James Sale, and explores his increasing preoccupation with religious and spiritual themes: the journey, in fact, towards death in which we are all pilgrims.

This collection, first heard at the marvellous Storm Restaurant in Poole (see back pages for more on Storm - a must for gourmets everywhere!) - is the result of a collaboration between two friends, James Sale and David Orme. Their friendship is exactly 30 years old, and despite having written over a dozen books together on poetry teaching, Shakespeare and the like, this is undoubtedly their best book and legacy. That it was first performed at Storm is highly appropriate: what better place to perform poems and stories that move the soul than a place where food and wine captivate the palate? Alongside the poems of James and David, we have included two favourite classics of rhythm and rhyme which we performed on the night: Kubla Khan and an extract from Alfred Noyes' The Highwayman. Poems and stories speak to the hearts of us because narrative is a primary act of mind. Contact us if you'd like to know more.

The son is the image of the father and this is true in more than a biological sense: where there is true affinity the interests, the emotions and the very spirits align. To say the 'image' is to use a word germane to poetry: the image, the imagination, and the point of creation itself.

In this new title, James Sale, author of Mapping Motivation and creator of the Motivational Map, explores the mythical triumphs and tribulations of the workplace, how to stay motivated on the quest of life, and how to overcome the monsters and obstacles that way-lay us. This guide is essential not only for Maps practitioners, but anyone seeking to become a modern day Odysseus and find their way home.