Your weekly slice of Poetry

Over these past few weeks I've been dipping my toes into the world of Substack. This is something of a blogging/social platform, designed to allow users to post blog articles and connect with others via shorter posts and so on. It appears to be a better form for social media; the real meat of the platform is the longer form blogs that people post, as opposed to short-attention media that we are all used to.

To my great delight, I've found many other poets on Substack who are not only writing poetry that is Christian, but also poetry that is formal (i.e. it rhymes and has meter). So this week's edition of Poetry Pie will feature 3 poets that I found, along with some of their poetry. Enjoy!

Blossomed

Kate Bluett

Since subscribing to Kate's account, I've been pleased to receive almost daily poems that she writes. Many of these are liturgical, ringing with Biblical language that is often subtle and always interesting. This poem is one of those, describing the ways in which God works at us through difficult means.

The poem is written in a modified iambic trimeter (three feet per line), with groups of ABAB rhyming. It is modified in that lines 1 and 3 end in an unstressed syllable (a tag), which is then balanced or answered by the 2 and 4 lines ending on a stressed syllable. Trimeter is an interesting meter; since it is odd in length, it feels as if there is a longer pause at the end of each line.

Meditation X

Mark Rico

This sonnet is wonderfully sonorous. As you read, you can hear the sounds working together to a very full effect. This itself contributes to the meaning of the poem, an address to God who ordains the violent storms of life. These sounds don't present themselves through the ever obvious alliteration, but through a more skillful weaving of similar sounds together:

Who rides uprising tropic clouds and roars...

...swing wide and stalks the surge to shape new shores;

The poem itself is only two sentences, the first one comprising 12 out of 14 of the lines. It uses the technique of addressing God and describing him thoroughly, only then ending with the actual request: Have mercy.

A Sailor's Lament

Thomas McKendry

This six part poem provides us with a story about a sailor going off to sea, leaving his wife behind. It takes around 10 minutes to read in total and it is well worth the time. (The conclusion is quite beautiful.) Each part contains poetry written in a different style, from different perspectives and in different lengths. This does what only good poetry can do: it places us in a specific time and place, giving us the gift of experiencing something that (likely) none of us will ever go through.

The Ambush

Abram Newcomer

To round out this week, I'll link my most recently published poem. I've been trying to get better at just writing poetry, not sitting and overanalyzing what I think I ought to write about. In this vein, I wrote about a brief episode I had out on my deck one morning, in which I was attacked by a team of helicopter seeds. This poem won't change anyone's life, but I hope it is at least enjoyable to you as it was to me.

If any of these poets interest you, I'd encourage you to subscribe to their blogs! See who they talk about on Substack and follow those other poets as well. It's always encouraging to know that there are others out there that also care about poetry, who write and put it out for the world to read. Here's to more like them!