Celebrate #NationalMarineWeek 22nd July to 6th August. Challenge 1: “Minke Whale’s Song” Compose a poem that captures the mechanical and grunting song of Minke whales and their significance in the marine ecosystem. Please join me in highlighting the lesser known heroes of the marine world as part of The Wildlife Trusts campaign to get us to appreciate our marine world. I will post your contributions poems/prose. Please can you get your contributions to me at most the day before the challenge. Challenge 1: “Minke Whale’s Song” Compose a poem that captures the mechanical and grunting song of Minke whales and their significance in the marine ecosystem. Challenge 2: “The Guardian Crab” Write a poem celebrating the humble hermit crab and its role in maintaining balance and cleaning the ocean floor. Challenge 3: “Undulate Ray’s Dance” Craft a poem that explores Undulate rays and their egg sacs commonly called “Mermaids Purses” Challenge 4: “Cuttlefish Ink” Create a poem that delves into the mysterious and clever nature of the Cuttlefish, showcasing its ability to escape danger and adapt to the marine environment. Challenge 5: “Sea Hare’s Play” Compose a poem depicting the nature of Sea Hares, emphasizing their role in grazing on seaweed and algae, keeping these marine plants in balance so other species can exist and thrive. Challenge 6: “The Coral’s Song” Write a poem that conveys the beauty of coral reefs and their crucial role as homes for countless marine species. Challenge 7: “The Seagull’s Watch” Craft a poem exploring the vigilance and adaptability of seagulls, highlighting their importance as indicators of marine health. Challenge 8: “Jellyfish’s Glow” Create a poem that captures the ethereal glow and delicate movements of jellyfish, shedding light on their ecological significance. Challenge 9: “The Plight of the Seahorse” Compose a poignant poem addressing the challenges faced by seahorses, shedding light on their vulnerability and need for conservation. Challenge 10: “Bottlenose Dolphin’s Harmony” Write a poem celebrating the intelligence, social bonds, and communication skills of Bottlenose Dolphins, showcasing their role as marine ambassadors. Challenge 11: Honeycomb Worm. Craft a poem that showcases how Honeycomb Worms, help build reefs. Challenge 12: “The Loggerhead’s Journey” Create a poem that follows the incredible migration of loggerhead turtles and the obstacles they face, highlighting their significance in maintaining marine ecosystems. Challenge 13: “The Lobster’s Legacy” Compose a poem that explores the life cycle of lobsters and their ecological impact, emphasizing their importance as keystone species. Challenge 14: “The Starfish’s Regeneration” Write a poem that symbolizes the regenerative power and resilience of starfish, shedding light on their role in maintaining healthy marine habitats.
Poetry Showcase (July 2023) for Kushal Poddar
Bio: Kushal Poddar, the author of ‘Postmarked Quarantine’ has eight books to his credit. He is a journalist, father, and the editor of ‘Words Surfacing’. His works have been translated into twelve languages. Twitter- https://twitter.com/Kushalpoe
Rot
All day I have been hearing my voice
ricocheting in the silent solstitial house.
It is like a mewling cat caught in a trough.
We hear from every apartment until we do not.
And then we understand death.
I used to keep a bowl of cat food
at the chut's mouth. The bowl had 'Hope'
inscribed on it. An overflow of ants
startled me. The bowl was shattered.
I washed my hands again and again,
opened the medicine cabinet, rattled
the orange vial of the pills all expired long ago.
Rain Violence The shrapnel of rain struck against the tarpaulin of a makeshift shop pierce my state of being. All day, a day that…
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Not taken by Kathryn Lasseter
The fleeting
winsomeness
of good advice
not taken,
but considered,
leaving a taste on the
back of the tongue
like stately wine
too arid for
untutored palates
suffused with
sweeter vintages.
Kathryn Lasseter is a retired college professor who, after many years, has recently returned to writing poetry. Her poems have appeared in Heimat Review and are forthcoming in BarBar and Stone Poetry Quarterly.
Editor’s Decision: Elliott Smith & Chris Cornell (among a possible few others) will have their own Anthology together
Revolve by Sanjeev Sethi
The tingle of getting sipped
to the last drop
is not for every beverage.
Strewing one’s story
to the final straw is not for all.
Over-the-top affirmations
aren’t harpoons of hostility
but words hurled without a hitch.
If you feel good dubbing feelings
to dockets, you must do so.
I will abide by the business
of loving you.
Sanjeev Sethi has authored seven books of poetry. He has been published in over thirty countries. In December 2022, he edited Dreich Planet #1 for Hybriddreich, Scotland. In 2023, he won the First Prize in a Poetry Competition by the prestigious National Defence Academy, Pune. He lives in Mumbai, India.
Celebrate #NationalMarineWeek 22nd July to 6th August. Please join me in highlighting the lesser known heroes of the marine world as part of The Wildlife Trusts campaign to get us to appreciate our marine world. I will post your contributions poems/prose. Please can you get your contributions to me at most the day before the challenge. Challenge 1: “Minke Whale’s Song” Compose a poem that captures the mechanical and grunting song of Minke whales and their significance in the marine ecosystem. Challenge 2: “The Guardian Crab” Write a poem celebrating the humble hermit crab and its role in maintaining balance and cleaning the ocean floor. Challenge 3: “Undulate Ray’s Dance” Craft a poem that explores Undulate rays and their egg sacs commonly called “Mermaids Purses” Challenge 4: “Cuttlefish Ink” Create a poem that delves into the mysterious and clever nature of the Cuttlefish, showcasing its ability to escape danger and adapt to the marine environment. Challenge 5: “Sea Hare’s Play” Compose a poem depicting the nature of Sea Hares, emphasizing their role in grazing on seaweed and algae, keeping these marine plants in balance so other species can exist and thrive. Challenge 6: “The Coral’s Song” Write a poem that conveys the beauty of coral reefs and their crucial role as homes for countless marine species. Challenge 7: “The Seagull’s Watch” Craft a poem exploring the vigilance and adaptability of seagulls, highlighting their importance as indicators of marine health. Challenge 8: “Jellyfish’s Glow” Create a poem that captures the ethereal glow and delicate movements of jellyfish, shedding light on their ecological significance. Challenge 9: “The Plight of the Seahorse” Compose a poignant poem addressing the challenges faced by seahorses, shedding light on their vulnerability and need for conservation. Challenge 10: “Bottlenose Dolphin’s Harmony” Write a poem celebrating the intelligence, social bonds, and communication skills of Bottlenose Dolphins, showcasing their role as marine ambassadors. Challenge 11: Honeycomb Worm. Craft a poem that showcases how Honeycomb Worms, help build reefs. Challenge 12: “The Loggerhead’s Journey” Create a poem that follows the incredible migration of loggerhead turtles and the obstacles they face, highlighting their significance in maintaining marine ecosystems. Challenge 13: “The Lobster’s Legacy” Compose a poem that explores the life cycle of lobsters and their ecological impact, emphasizing their importance as keystone species. Challenge 14: “The Starfish’s Regeneration” Write a poem that symbolizes the regenerative power and resilience of starfish, shedding light on their role in maintaining healthy marine habitats.
Selected Poems 1980-2020 by Rachel DuPlessis (Chax Press) A Long Essay on the Long Poem by Rachel DuPlessis (University of Alabama Press)
Rachel Blau DuPlessis is an intriguing poet (including collaged visual poems) and critic. Her Selected Poems can’t help but feel centred around, perhaps grounded by, her Drafts project: 114 (+) cantos which rework, or ‘fold’, 19 poems six times over, riffing and refining, tangenting away from and interrogating the texts themselves and the author’s processes and poetical understanding. The sequence is both a challenge to and a critical deconstruction of some of the very male modernist long poems of sequences such as Pound’s Cantos and Olson’s Maximus project; and the long poem is also the subject of a recent critical volume.
There are under a 100 pages of poetry preceding Drafts in this Selected Poems, mostly fragmented lyrics, perhaps most akin to the work of, say, Rae Armantrout. The last line of the very first poem included here, 1970’s ‘A Poem to Myself’, acts as a kind of manifesto…
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