Call for Work--Gulf Coast Poems

(Sophie Staples, 2009)

This is my daughter Sophie on the coast of where I grew up, the Northwest Florida panhandle. I had imagined taking her here regularly--the spectacular beauty of this place as part of her upbringing, her psyche, her sense of connection to sum sings largess, our shared sacred.

Yet, I know now the beauty is indeed spectacular--scenic rather than systemic. Poet and activist Allan Peterson has explained to me that the Gulf ecosystem has long been sick and continues to be assaulted from many directions.

Meanwhile, the UN is now declaring that the entire oceanic system may be bereft of fish by 2050. The waters are not, in fact, larger than us.

What to do?

Jerome Rothenberg has described the poet's role as one of helping to preserve psychological and biological diversity. Poets for Living Waters is one such collaborative effort.