spring 2013
On Thirty-Six Poetic Stratagems of War Karen An-hwei Lee
Two Poems Jada Ach
Ground Water Janet Norman Knox
Untitled Glenn Halak
Small Moons Michaelsun Stonesweat Knapp
Two Poems Elizabyth Hiscox
Carry Mercedes Lawry
Two Poems Alan Soldofsky
the real problem is doubt John Amen
Pizza Parlor Tim Suermondt
Two Poems Anthony Warnke
Ted Hughes Bakes a Cake Emily O’Neill
Wrong Mary Donnelly
Visuals by
Carolyn Krieg
from the ether
On the cosmos
I know, the cosmos, right? It all began with a poetry challenge: write a poem of exactly 100 words, including any title, which deals with the subject “local habitations.” Local Habitations is the title of a forthcoming anthology of local poets laureate in which I’m included. Nils Peterson, the editor, wrote the following in the book’s introduction.
Theseus famously says in Midsummer Night’s Dream that the
imaginations of the Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet are made
of the same stuff. . . He goes on to say that as the poet’s
. . . imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
So Nils put forth his challenge to the contributing poets that we each pen a poem following his parameters for the anthology’s upcoming release reading.
To think of the vast emptiness of space. . . Bill Nye
How I got from the local to the cosmos in exactly100 words somehow involves my grandfather, a quote from a dream, a book I was coincidentally reading on the Dreamtime people of Australia notably entitled, At Home in the World and written by anthropologist/poet Michael Jackson, a comment by a four year old, the Poetry in Motion bookmark, and a discussion about immigration from a weekend party.
In other words, it took some heavy “bodying forth.”
The cosmos is also within us, we’re made of star stuff. . .Carl Sagan
Soon enough I found myself googling around “cosmos” to make sure I had my quantum physics straight where I rediscovered the brilliant, “We Are All Connected,” musical remix by Symphony of Science, an artistic project headed by John Boswell. The remix of clips by physicists Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, and Richard Feynman has received over 5 million hits, and likely a couple thousand are my own. Truly, the science, images, music, as well as the chance to see Richard Feynman pounding away in a drum circle makes this video a remarkable, not-to-miss experience.
I find it elevating, exhilarating, to discover. . . Carl Sagan
I hope you will find the journey through DMQ Review’s Spring 2013 Issue elevating and exhilarating, that you will discover some local habitations, the “forms of things unknown,” that these poems create. We are grateful for each poet’s pen that has shared such good work with us all “across the sea of space.”
We know you will also enjoy artist Carolyn Krieg’s images. Carolyn is publishing a book, Visitation, in collaboration with poet Kim Hamilton, this summer. Her Seattle gallery representations are Prographica Drawings and SAM Gallery.
From the ether,
Sally Ashton,
Editor-in-Chief