Discovering online lit mag THE FEM this year was a definite high point for me. What a great source of inspiration. I’m bowled over to be a part of their poetry page.
I wrote “Ninevah” in the same vein as (and striving for the same caliber of) poems in the “Poets Respond” category at Rattle. While not a vehemently political person, sometimes events shake me up enough to knock a poem out of me. When I saw this Hyperallergic article about ISIS destroying statues at the Mosul Museum, I felt a helplessness that translated into poetry.
This was a scary thing for me to write. I am mostly a fence-sitter. Someone hesitant to take a stand in case I misunderstand issues, history, people. This time my sadness took precedence. I want to know how human beings can break a seemingly infinite cycle of cruelty to each other and to our home, this planet. What part do I play?
I reread Byron’s “The Destruction of Sennacharib.” I contemplated, as I always do when I’m distraught, images of the Earth from space, and yeah even this image, which always seems to blow my mind and change my perspective. I sought out stories of female goddesses from ages past and the calm wisdom of Carl Sagan. Then I wrote a poem.
You can read “Ninevah” here. Thanks!
“Family portrait (Voyager 1)” by NASA, Voyager 1 – Visible Earthsource: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00451TIFF version: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/tiff/PIA00451.tif. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
