ISSN: 1941-4137
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
Gretchen Rockwell is a queer poet and supplemental instructor of English at the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, RI. Xer work has appeared in Glass: Poets Resist, Into the Void, Noble/Gas Qtrly, Crab Fat Magazine, and the minnesota review as well as in other publications. Xe enjoys writing poetry about gender and sexuality, history, space, and unusual connections.
Also by Gretchen Rockwell:
SS Sagaing: WW2 shipwreck refloated by Sri Lanka navy
Tooth and Claw
Séance for Past Selves
Previously in Glass: A Journal of Poetry:
The Rebellion
Poets Resist
Edited by Jemshed Khan
May 20, 2019
Edited by Jemshed Khan
May 20, 2019
After Watching Star Trek, I Return to the Real World
Occasionally, we are given
to understand, spontaneous
evolution happens, where two
beings come to life independently
of each other. This has just happened
with a flightless bird: gone extinct
over a hundred thousand years ago,
now reappearing, still earthbound. So far
no other birds have managed this
coming back from the dead, although
it is not exactly resurrection. Vulcans preach
infinite diversity in infinite combinations
but also Kolinahr, which is impossible
for me to imagine. The separate
rail-birds on Aldabra show it is possible
to emerge even after being overwhelmed
and wiped out, to survive even after
all of you have died. The incredible
strains belief, but not logic, and I am glad
this miracle of science is possible —
and I am able to feel wonder
still. Glad, too, they have appeared
in my flood of news about rising
water and extinction, the damage we do
with our flights and scrabbling. Escape
is the easiest answer to this. Surely
abandoning emotion would be best. How
much harder it is to feel. To stay and fight.
As I’ve been scrolling through Twitter recently, I’ve been seeing the recent news about Jakarta, the U.N. extinction report (and how it is being ignored in the U.S.), and too many other environmental-concern news items to mention. Obviously, this is an enormous source of stress/concern for me — and that’s just the environmental news! Thinking about that made me think of the “information fatigue” phenomenon and how it can be so easy to respond to oversaturation with desensitization, and how we (collectively) need to fight that despite being so, so tired all the time. That, plus, this article from The Independent sparked this poem.
Poets Resist is published by Glass Poetry Press.
All contents © the author.
All contents © the author.
