Oceanic

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The ocean is largely mysterious. On the ocean’s surface, we ride in boats and relax on beaches to watch the waves crash against the shore. Fig 3. While the original manuscript of this poem is lost, the above fragment (AC 169, about 1880?) is extant. Courtesy of the Amherst College Archives & Special Collections. For link, see: https://acdc.amherst.edu/view/asc:1433 Is this the greatest English poem about a sea-voyage? Coleridge’s friend and collaborator was sceptical about its merits, and toyed with removing it from subsequent editions of their landmark collection Lyrical Ballads (1798). Contemporary Pacific Islander poetry most commonly includes oral and written poetry composed by authors who are genealogically linked to the indigenous people of the areas of the Pacific known as Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. While many of these poets live within the “Pacific Basin,” there are also many residing in the United States. Because Pacific Islanders are one of the fastest growing populations in America, it is essential that we read Pacific literature, which has for too long been invisible within discussions of American and Global poetry. Dive headfirst into the captivating splendor and sheer might of the ocean through the finest sea-themed poems, all nestled in one cozy corner for your delight!

Aimee Nezhukumatathil reads "When I’m Away From You, I Feel Like the Second-Place Winner in a Bee-Wearing Contest" If drowning is suggested through indirect means in Fr. 1446A, it is the explicit subject of Fr. 1542[B]. In this poem, which survives in entirety only in a transcript by Mabel Loomis Todd, the human is effaced in these waves altogether: only my mind is not present and I can't control where I go, I can't remember where I go, im mindless. Im walking on an ocean. An ocean of happiness I can't baptize myself in. The ocean gets more wet except the ocean is filled with sweat, sweat from running from all my problems. Exhaustion fills my body. That is the pure moment I realize I am asleep, the wetness is beads of sweat on my forehead from the 16th night terror this week.

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Reading is tidal, and each tide brings with it new associations. It is difficult now to read John Masefield’s Sea-Fever without thinking of bleaching coral, or Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner without picturing Chris Jordan’s photographs of dead albatross, their stomachs full of brightly coloured plastic. “‘ Hope’ is the thing with feathers,” but avian flu is decimating seabird populations.

Her poems invoke a sense of connectedness… Nezhukumatathil weaves meditations on parenting and family-making among her lavishly rendered evocations of flora and fauna… Nezhukumatathil’s voice is consistent in its awe.” — Publishers Weekly Fig. 7. AC 84-5/6, “The Brain – is wider than the / Sky –,” about summer 1863. Courtesy of Amherst College Archives & Special Collections. For link, see: https://acdc.amherst.edu/view/asc:1457/asc:1469Indulge in the poetic depths as wordsmiths delve into the recesses of their hearts, crafting verses that will make your emotions dance and your soul set sail. Get ready to be swept away by playful verses that paint vivid pictures of marine life, crashing waves, and endless adventures on the salty shores. “Sea Calm” by Langston Hughes

Adiba Jaigirdar is an Irish-Bangladeshi writer, poet, and teacher. She resides in Dublin, Ireland and has an MA in postcolonial studies. She is currently working on her own postcolonial novel and hopes that someday it will see the light of day outside of her computer screen. Poetry is a great alternative method for children to express themselves. There are no rules to poetry – the words don’t have to rhyme, and don’t even necessarily have to make sense to other people. Poetry allows people to be creative and imaginative and write how they feel and what they are thinking in whatever way they like. We might say a poem is a bit like a boat, a vessel borne aloft by rhythms that surge or eddy. It is also like the sea itself, with its deep places and ever-receding horizon. “The sea has many voices,” observes Eliot in The Dry Salvages. More than anything, the many voices of oceanic poetry declare the vitality of life even in the midst of crisis. “There is a lullaby in all of us,” Burnett writes, “a call of sea”. If only we would listen.With unparalleled ease, she’s able to weave each intriguing detail into a nuanced, thought-provoking poem that also reads like a startling modern-day fable.” —Poetry Foundation