Friday, June 1, 2018

5 Favorite Poems (Wordgathering Vol. 12, Iss. 1)

Wordgathering has another superb issue in their March 2018 release.  While there is a lot to enjoy, I thought I'd list (what I feel are) the best five poems.  Check out all the poems by clicking here.

In random order:

"The Master Mistake" - Yuan Changming
This piece guides the reader through quick, almost cyclical examples of errors to a conclusion that feels natural.  The three stanzas are word-rich but not bogged down.  The poet's decision to indent the final line was a nice touch.

In an older sense, Eva meant to eat an onion instead of 
The apple. Adam was created out of the wrong material
And each unique being is but an exception to the rule


"Big Spirit in Skin" - Mary McGinnis
The first stanza of this poem is a declaration that appears simple at first, but it spirals out as you read.  The line length in the stanza even echoes the statement of the opening, thinning out in the middle.  I took this piece to be about balance and wholeness, though the end stanza left me feeling a little forlorn.

where the membrane between window and rain
opens like a tidy zero: 
its geometry without


"The Skies in Love With You" - Neil Marcus
This surreal poem opens with a question.  The other lines (each line its own stanza) either expound the question or answer it with powerful, somewhat contradictory, imagery.  It feels like a love poem with bits of playfulness.

a tornado in my bowl of broth

with gravity that makes me fly


"Huntress" - René Harrison
A piece of yearning and metamorphosis, this poem has a hint of darkness and caution.  The end echoes the beginning, but the narrator clearly indicates you aren't where you began.  How does wanting change us?

Alone without desire, she turns her ear to hear you,
and whispers you into a stag…


"Our Bodies Cannot Contain Us" - Jeannine Hall Gailey
The hopeful fragility of our bodies is given life in this final selection.  It seems like a spiritual poem, but no afterlife is mentioned beyond what science tells us.  The piece manages to relay beauty amid the tenuousness of life sans sentimentality.

your blood your bone your hair
slip away unfinished, burn away
but leave no mark on the earth



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