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