Since not many people are buying Slow Motion : The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack, my log books kept in verse form of several extended trips aboard a skipjack (sail-powered oyster dredge), I have decided to make it available for free on Scribd.com.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/25945756/Slow-Motion-Scribd-com-Edition
"Slow Motion: The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack" by M. Kei is a break-through collection of waterman poetry from the Chesapeake Bay who actually knows what he is talking about. M. Kei crews on the title boat, the Skipjack Martha Lewis. Kirsty Karkow, prize-winning author of 'water poems' and 'shorelines' says: "A Skipjack is a historica vessel where form follows function with a rough beauty. These characteristics are apparent in the sensitive, poetic voyages of an aging boat and the men who work her sails. This history and trip log is sure to delight any sailor or lover of the Chesapeake Bay . . . and of poetry."
The trade paperback is for sale at: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/slow-motion-the-log-of-a-chesapeake-bay-skipjack/2905064
Showing posts with label Slow Motion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Slow Motion. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Friday, October 10, 2008
Stylus Review : Slow Motion
Patricia Prime has also review Slow Motion : The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack in the current issue of Stylus Magazine. A lengthier and more literary review, she gives ample space to discussing the form and content from various angles. I am grateful for her deep appreciation for what I was trying to accomplish with Slow Motion .
She quotes a number of the poems to illustrate the points she makes.
"Slow Motion is a collection of haiku and tanka, interspersed with narrative that has many of the characteristics that are the essence of good writing: concise expression, clarity, sensory immediacy, an allusive quality of hinting at more than is directly stated, a preference for specifics and concrete images rather than generalities, a lightness of touch, a willingness to share the fundamental realities of experience, and an ability to communicate with others. The book is about M. Kei’s life on a skipjack fishing vessel in Chesapeake Bay. Kei takes readers on a journey that paints a vivid picture of live as a skipjack crewman.
"The poetry in this collection shows an intensely lived connection to the natural world. It deals with personal experience and emotions not in isolation; the personal is not expressed against a decorative background of natural imagery, but the two are intimately interwoven.
"Kei brings a contemporary feel to the tanka form that encapsulates the qualities of timelessness, poignancy and simplicity that can give tanka a sense of being lived by the reader. Whether it’s a description of the skipjack:
the old lady
wants a new dress:
five patches
in her sail
and more needed
Off Worton Creek
"or that sense relaxation that can follow after setting sail and is profoundly evoked in this haiku:
sails set
a deckhand
studies law
off Thomas Point Light"
...
"The narrative sections nicely complement the tanka. Like the tanka, there is a strong sense of personal engagement with seascape, history and personalities that pervades the narrative. Kei’s is poetry of locality, a range of history, and the constant in the relationships between narrative and poem is the poet himself. He imbues his scenes with a sense of spirit and mystery. And despite this much personalised relationship with the sea, his main concern is to bring the beauty of this world to the reader. One needs to reach beyond the confines of the short poem in order to fully achieve the necessary imaginative vision to express the history, the feelings of place, and the hardships of life at sea, and to find those anchors or signposts to help us navigate our way through.
"Slow Motion is a collection that maps a personal territory, but also addresses themes that are of universal concern. It is unusual in being a successful amalgam of haiku, tanka and narrative, with each demonstrating its particular strength."
Thank you Pat, and Stylus Journal!
~K~
She quotes a number of the poems to illustrate the points she makes.
"Slow Motion is a collection of haiku and tanka, interspersed with narrative that has many of the characteristics that are the essence of good writing: concise expression, clarity, sensory immediacy, an allusive quality of hinting at more than is directly stated, a preference for specifics and concrete images rather than generalities, a lightness of touch, a willingness to share the fundamental realities of experience, and an ability to communicate with others. The book is about M. Kei’s life on a skipjack fishing vessel in Chesapeake Bay. Kei takes readers on a journey that paints a vivid picture of live as a skipjack crewman.
"The poetry in this collection shows an intensely lived connection to the natural world. It deals with personal experience and emotions not in isolation; the personal is not expressed against a decorative background of natural imagery, but the two are intimately interwoven.
"Kei brings a contemporary feel to the tanka form that encapsulates the qualities of timelessness, poignancy and simplicity that can give tanka a sense of being lived by the reader. Whether it’s a description of the skipjack:
the old lady
wants a new dress:
five patches
in her sail
and more needed
Off Worton Creek
"or that sense relaxation that can follow after setting sail and is profoundly evoked in this haiku:
sails set
a deckhand
studies law
off Thomas Point Light"
...
"The narrative sections nicely complement the tanka. Like the tanka, there is a strong sense of personal engagement with seascape, history and personalities that pervades the narrative. Kei’s is poetry of locality, a range of history, and the constant in the relationships between narrative and poem is the poet himself. He imbues his scenes with a sense of spirit and mystery. And despite this much personalised relationship with the sea, his main concern is to bring the beauty of this world to the reader. One needs to reach beyond the confines of the short poem in order to fully achieve the necessary imaginative vision to express the history, the feelings of place, and the hardships of life at sea, and to find those anchors or signposts to help us navigate our way through.
"Slow Motion is a collection that maps a personal territory, but also addresses themes that are of universal concern. It is unusual in being a successful amalgam of haiku, tanka and narrative, with each demonstrating its particular strength."
Thank you Pat, and Stylus Journal!
~K~
For the Love of Skipjacks
Slow Motion : The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack made the cover of Bay Weekly Magazine October 9. The lead article 'For the Love of Skipjacks' reviews Slow Motion and includes excerpts and photos from the book. Reviewer Dotty Holcomb Doherty touches briefly on the history of tanka poetry and covers the wide range of treatments possible, from sensory intake, to life experiences, philosophy, and humor.
rolling swells
spray breaking every
tenth wave
the cries of seagulls
scatter around us
–Off Tilghman Island
"In his poems, Kei captures the briefest moments — often overlooked or dismissed as ordinary — to take us on a sensory voyage, immersing us in the smells, sights and feel of sailing a skipjack."
Bay Weekly is a free weekly magazine distributed throughout the Chesapeake Bay region. It is a must read for boaters, vacationers, and residents, devoted as it is recreation and conversation of the 'great shellfish bay.'
Cover: BayWeekly.com (good Oct 9-16, 2008)
Article: http://www.bayweekly.com/year08/issuexvi41/leadxvi41_2.html
rolling swells
spray breaking every
tenth wave
the cries of seagulls
scatter around us
–Off Tilghman Island
"In his poems, Kei captures the briefest moments — often overlooked or dismissed as ordinary — to take us on a sensory voyage, immersing us in the smells, sights and feel of sailing a skipjack."
Bay Weekly is a free weekly magazine distributed throughout the Chesapeake Bay region. It is a must read for boaters, vacationers, and residents, devoted as it is recreation and conversation of the 'great shellfish bay.'
Cover: BayWeekly.com (good Oct 9-16, 2008)
Article: http://www.bayweekly.com/year08/issuexvi41/leadxvi41_2.html
Friday, August 15, 2008
"a wonderful collection of poetry"
Robert Wilson, managing editor of Simply Haiku, one of the major Internet journals for Japanese short form poetry, has reviewed Slow Motion in the current issue of the journal.
"M. Kei has written a book of tanka and haiku about life on a skipjack fishing vessel in the Atlantic Seaboard's Chesapeake Bay. He takes readers on a journey reminiscent of Bashô, allowing them to feel a semblance of place, the tanka and haiku therein giving a vivid picture of life as a skipjack crew member. It's also a rare book in that the majority of the poems are all well sculpted. It displays the author's solid understanding of poetry. Kei is not a traditionalist, and his use of meter and syllabication in many of the tanka is more akin in some ways to free verse and, perhaps, should be categorized as short tanka-like poems."
You can read the entire review (and journal) at SimplyHaiku.com
Thank you, Robert.
~K~
"M. Kei has written a book of tanka and haiku about life on a skipjack fishing vessel in the Atlantic Seaboard's Chesapeake Bay. He takes readers on a journey reminiscent of Bashô, allowing them to feel a semblance of place, the tanka and haiku therein giving a vivid picture of life as a skipjack crew member. It's also a rare book in that the majority of the poems are all well sculpted. It displays the author's solid understanding of poetry. Kei is not a traditionalist, and his use of meter and syllabication in many of the tanka is more akin in some ways to free verse and, perhaps, should be categorized as short tanka-like poems."
You can read the entire review (and journal) at SimplyHaiku.com
Thank you, Robert.
~K~
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
A Few Poems from Slow Motion
Slow Motion contains 350 poems, most of which are tanka, but also including tercets, short verse, and prose. A few sample poems are below:
the black
and white diamonds
of Holland Island Bar Light—
this too
belongs to cormorants
southern breakfast
asparagus fresh from the garden,
eggs and bacon
served on broad china plates
in an old plantation house
a little white boat
always busy
never doing anything
always going somewhere
happy never to arrive
a few vague stars—
although drunk,
the sailors
gaze up
in reverence
mild weather—
yet the dark warning
of clouds
piling up
beyond the mast
a polydactyl cat
walks the bulwark—
he, too,
is the offspring
of sailors
with worn out
sailing gloves I pull
the torn leech,
me and the boat
both feeling our age
the leaning tower
of Sharp's Island Light . . .
all that remains
of a vanished island,
a vanished time
Slow Motion : The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack, can be ordered
from Modern English Tanka Press at: http://www.lulu.com/content/2537507
the black
and white diamonds
of Holland Island Bar Light—
this too
belongs to cormorants
southern breakfast
asparagus fresh from the garden,
eggs and bacon
served on broad china plates
in an old plantation house
a little white boat
always busy
never doing anything
always going somewhere
happy never to arrive
a few vague stars—
although drunk,
the sailors
gaze up
in reverence
mild weather—
yet the dark warning
of clouds
piling up
beyond the mast
a polydactyl cat
walks the bulwark—
he, too,
is the offspring
of sailors
with worn out
sailing gloves I pull
the torn leech,
me and the boat
both feeling our age
the leaning tower
of Sharp's Island Light . . .
all that remains
of a vanished island,
a vanished time
Slow Motion : The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack, can be ordered
from Modern English Tanka Press at: http://www.lulu.com/content/2537507
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Slow Motion: Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack
Slow Motion : The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack by M. Kei
Published by Modern English Tanka Press
"Slow Motion: The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack" by M. Kei is a
break-through collection of waterman poetry from the Chesapeake Bay
by a poet who actually knows what he is talking about. M. Kei crews
on the title boat, the Skipjack Martha Lewis. Kirsty Karkow, prize-
winning poet and author of "water poems" and "shorelines," says: "A
Skipjack is a historic vessel where form follows function with a
rough beauty. These characteristics are apparent in the sensitive,
poetic voyages of an aging boat and the men who work her sails. This
history and trip log is sure to delight any sailor or lover of the
Chesapeake Bay . . . and of poetry."
Baltimore, Maryland–May 27, 2008–Slow Motion : The Log of a
Chesapeake Bay Skipjack by M. Kei has been published in trade
paperback by Modern English Tanka Press, Baltimore, Maryland. This
break-through collection of waterman poetry from the Chesapeake Bay,
by a poet who actually knows what he is talking about, is sure to
delight any sailor or lover of the Chesapeake Bay and of poetry. The
poet M. Kei crews on the title boat, the Skipjack Martha Lewis, out
of Havre de Grace, Maryland. The short lyric forms used in Slow
Motion are perfect vehicles for the laconic voice of the waterman.
Kei has captured a bit of Chesapeake magic in a bottle and all who
love the Bay, boating, and poetry, are a little richer for it.
"Kei, in his Slow Motion: The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack, has
made these poems on the Chesapeake Bay with its sailboats and workmen
and beauty into a tour de force. Having read hundreds and hundreds of
modern haiku, I find that Kei's, along with his many tanka,
communicate his joy in the beauty of sky and wave and sea and work.
There is a sustaining harmony in the collection, at times earthy, at
times transcendental, at times Whitmanesque. In this journey of log
poetry, along with commentary and notes, Kei has extended the range
of our poetic world." –Sanford Goldstein, co-translator of
Midaregami, Tangled Hair
About Author:
M. Kei crews aboard a skipjack, a traditional wooden sailboat used to
fish for oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. He is the author of Heron
Sea, Short Poems of the Chesapeake Bay, and the editor of the
critically acclaimed anthology, Fire Pearls: Short Masterpieces of
the Human Heart. Kei edits the biannual tanka journal, Atlas Poetica,
which is dedicated to poetry of place. His latest project is Take
Five : Best Contemporary Tanka of 2008, of which he serves as founder
and editor-in-chief. He has published more than 800 poems and
scholarly articles in five languages and ten countries. He also
compiles the Bibliography of English-Language Tanka.
For media inquiries or to arrange an interview with the author,
contact: M. Kei by e-mail at kujaku (at) verizon (dot) net. Publisher
information at: www.modernenglishtankapress.com.
This book is available from www.Lulu.com/modernenglishtanka and from
major booksellers; or by order from the publisher. Complete
information and mail order form are available online at
www.modernenglishtankapress.com. Price: $16.95 USD. ISBN 978-0-6152-
1265-4. Trade paperback. 164 pages, 6.00" x 9.00", perfect binding,
60# cream interior paper, black and white interior ink, 100# exterior
paper, full-color exterior ink.
About Modern English Tanka Press:
Modern English Tanka Press is an independent equity publishing house
in Baltimore, Maryland, dedicated to producing books and periodicals
of lasting literary value. A family business, we treat our customers
and partners in publishing like family. Our publications are produced
using modern print-on-demand production and distribution methods. We
publish tanka, haiku, and other fine poetry. Our special mission is
to promote the tanka form of poetry, to educate newcomers to tanka
about this most ancient poetic form, and to work for wider
publication of tanka in both specialty and mainstream poetry venues.
To those ends, we publish the journals "Modern English Tanka," "Atlas
Poetica," "Modern Haiga," and special edition books of tanka, haiku,
and other fine verse. We operate www.TankaCentral.com, the internet
megasite for tanka, with its popular "Tanka News" blog, and the
poetry web hub, www.ShortVerse.com.
Contact:
Denis M. Garrison, owner
Modern English Tanka Press
443-802-1249
Email to dmg (at) themetpress (dot) com.
www.modernenglishtankapress.com www.modernenglishtanka.com
www.atlaspoetica.com
www.shortverse.com www.tankacentral.com www.tankanews.com
www.modernhaiga.com
Published by Modern English Tanka Press
"Slow Motion: The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack" by M. Kei is a
break-through collection of waterman poetry from the Chesapeake Bay
by a poet who actually knows what he is talking about. M. Kei crews
on the title boat, the Skipjack Martha Lewis. Kirsty Karkow, prize-
winning poet and author of "water poems" and "shorelines," says: "A
Skipjack is a historic vessel where form follows function with a
rough beauty. These characteristics are apparent in the sensitive,
poetic voyages of an aging boat and the men who work her sails. This
history and trip log is sure to delight any sailor or lover of the
Chesapeake Bay . . . and of poetry."
Baltimore, Maryland–May 27, 2008–Slow Motion : The Log of a
Chesapeake Bay Skipjack by M. Kei has been published in trade
paperback by Modern English Tanka Press, Baltimore, Maryland. This
break-through collection of waterman poetry from the Chesapeake Bay,
by a poet who actually knows what he is talking about, is sure to
delight any sailor or lover of the Chesapeake Bay and of poetry. The
poet M. Kei crews on the title boat, the Skipjack Martha Lewis, out
of Havre de Grace, Maryland. The short lyric forms used in Slow
Motion are perfect vehicles for the laconic voice of the waterman.
Kei has captured a bit of Chesapeake magic in a bottle and all who
love the Bay, boating, and poetry, are a little richer for it.
"Kei, in his Slow Motion: The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack, has
made these poems on the Chesapeake Bay with its sailboats and workmen
and beauty into a tour de force. Having read hundreds and hundreds of
modern haiku, I find that Kei's, along with his many tanka,
communicate his joy in the beauty of sky and wave and sea and work.
There is a sustaining harmony in the collection, at times earthy, at
times transcendental, at times Whitmanesque. In this journey of log
poetry, along with commentary and notes, Kei has extended the range
of our poetic world." –Sanford Goldstein, co-translator of
Midaregami, Tangled Hair
About Author:
M. Kei crews aboard a skipjack, a traditional wooden sailboat used to
fish for oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. He is the author of Heron
Sea, Short Poems of the Chesapeake Bay, and the editor of the
critically acclaimed anthology, Fire Pearls: Short Masterpieces of
the Human Heart. Kei edits the biannual tanka journal, Atlas Poetica,
which is dedicated to poetry of place. His latest project is Take
Five : Best Contemporary Tanka of 2008, of which he serves as founder
and editor-in-chief. He has published more than 800 poems and
scholarly articles in five languages and ten countries. He also
compiles the Bibliography of English-Language Tanka.
For media inquiries or to arrange an interview with the author,
contact: M. Kei by e-mail at kujaku (at) verizon (dot) net. Publisher
information at: www.modernenglishtankapress.com.
This book is available from www.Lulu.com/modernenglishtanka and from
major booksellers; or by order from the publisher. Complete
information and mail order form are available online at
www.modernenglishtankapress.com. Price: $16.95 USD. ISBN 978-0-6152-
1265-4. Trade paperback. 164 pages, 6.00" x 9.00", perfect binding,
60# cream interior paper, black and white interior ink, 100# exterior
paper, full-color exterior ink.
About Modern English Tanka Press:
Modern English Tanka Press is an independent equity publishing house
in Baltimore, Maryland, dedicated to producing books and periodicals
of lasting literary value. A family business, we treat our customers
and partners in publishing like family. Our publications are produced
using modern print-on-demand production and distribution methods. We
publish tanka, haiku, and other fine poetry. Our special mission is
to promote the tanka form of poetry, to educate newcomers to tanka
about this most ancient poetic form, and to work for wider
publication of tanka in both specialty and mainstream poetry venues.
To those ends, we publish the journals "Modern English Tanka," "Atlas
Poetica," "Modern Haiga," and special edition books of tanka, haiku,
and other fine verse. We operate www.TankaCentral.com, the internet
megasite for tanka, with its popular "Tanka News" blog, and the
poetry web hub, www.ShortVerse.com.
Contact:
Denis M. Garrison, owner
Modern English Tanka Press
443-802-1249
Email to dmg (at) themetpress (dot) com.
www.modernenglishtankapress.com www.modernenglishtanka.com
www.atlaspoetica.com
www.shortverse.com www.tankacentral.com www.tankanews.com
www.modernhaiga.com
Friday, February 08, 2008
Update
A busy month. The proofreading for Atlas Poetica is done and she is going to print. We are on schedule for our March 1 debute. Buy at ModernEnglishTankaPress.com.
I have a new and special project in the works, but hush. That press release will come out later. You'll see.
Slow Motion my book of log poetry from my voyages on the Skipjack Martha Lewis last fall is coming along well. Tentative release date, April. More specifically, after I get my tax refund. Poetry doesn't pay, it costs. It will be coming out from Modern English Tanka Press.
This past week I was done with a nasty stomach bug. I was throwing up and having the runs. Throwing up is something that rarely happens to me. It means I'm very very ill. Throwing up so violently I hurt myself is a new and unpleasant development. I seem to be over the illness portion of the bug, but I'm still sore. I've missed most of work this week, which is bad. I'm a member of the working poor. Compensation is simple: if you work, you get paid. If you don't work, you don't get paid. What is this 'sick leave' people talk about?
Edwards has thrown in the towel. After reading Clinton and Obama's websites, I conclude that there's not much difference between them. A bleeding liberal like me ought to be giddy over having a woman or an African American to choose as serious contenders for president, but I don't agree with either of them about Iraq. Still, I expect I'll vote Obama as the person most likely to do me and other people with disabilities some good. Not that any of his proposed reforms will do me any personal good, but having been there before, I see very much that they need doing. Sadly, when used his website box to 'contribute your ideas to the Obama campaign', I immediately received a plea for money that showed not even a form letter response to my comments. So much for being a man of the people. Money is everything.
Will post more later when I get caught up, have time, and complete past due tasks that have been delayed by my illness.
~K~
I have a new and special project in the works, but hush. That press release will come out later. You'll see.
Slow Motion my book of log poetry from my voyages on the Skipjack Martha Lewis last fall is coming along well. Tentative release date, April. More specifically, after I get my tax refund. Poetry doesn't pay, it costs. It will be coming out from Modern English Tanka Press.
This past week I was done with a nasty stomach bug. I was throwing up and having the runs. Throwing up is something that rarely happens to me. It means I'm very very ill. Throwing up so violently I hurt myself is a new and unpleasant development. I seem to be over the illness portion of the bug, but I'm still sore. I've missed most of work this week, which is bad. I'm a member of the working poor. Compensation is simple: if you work, you get paid. If you don't work, you don't get paid. What is this 'sick leave' people talk about?
Edwards has thrown in the towel. After reading Clinton and Obama's websites, I conclude that there's not much difference between them. A bleeding liberal like me ought to be giddy over having a woman or an African American to choose as serious contenders for president, but I don't agree with either of them about Iraq. Still, I expect I'll vote Obama as the person most likely to do me and other people with disabilities some good. Not that any of his proposed reforms will do me any personal good, but having been there before, I see very much that they need doing. Sadly, when used his website box to 'contribute your ideas to the Obama campaign', I immediately received a plea for money that showed not even a form letter response to my comments. So much for being a man of the people. Money is everything.
Will post more later when I get caught up, have time, and complete past due tasks that have been delayed by my illness.
~K~
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