The first issue of the online poetry magazine Small Potatoes is now available.
Titled "A Dedication to Survivors," this issue honors the survivors and souls lost in the hurricanes that ravaged the Gulf Coast. The editor of Small Potatoes, Sirrus Poe, says about his premiere issue: "This project was created to encourage fellow poets to donate either their time, or money, to those who have been affected by the hurricanes of this historic hurricane season. At the beginning we were focused on Katrina, but soon discovered that she would not be the only hurricane to touch so many lives here in the US. In the end anyone who donated to any effort was eligible to be included on the PWSS page."
Poe and his editorial board selected some exceptional works. The Survivors issue features poems with themes centered on New Orleans and the disastrous flood that buried the city; and also poems that had nothing to do with the hurricane and its aftermath, but focused on general themes of loss, heartache, and the fragility of life.
I have not read anywhere on the vast Internet any project that compiled poetry written in response to the flood of New Orleans. So there is an immediate uniqueness to these poems. I would like you to consider the extraordinary poems "When the Levee Floods the City" by Gary Blackenship (set to the rhythm of a Louise Armstrong song); "A Blue Wake for New Orleans" by Lorna Dee Cervantes; "She Rides" by Freada Dillon, and "Gulf Lake," by Kathryn Rantala.
The remaining featured poems (not specific to New Orleans) are no less amazing. Please consider the poems "Blood of the Rose" by Pris Campbell, "Drifting too Far From Shore," by Alex Stolis, "In Retrospect" by Helen Losse, "Deaf Things" by Michael Ladanyi, and "Completed" by E.V. Noechel.
In all, "A Dedication to Survivors" is a splendid collection that evokes a gamut of reactions. I think of survivors as those who live to tell harrowing, painful experiences, who end up carrying a weight they may learn to live with but may never be able to put down. It’s important then that the content and themes within "Survivors" stay real in a way that portrays the effects of disaster and her spoils with honesty. Poe’s project from the get-go was about remembering. Leave not one soul forsaken. I feel "Survivors" accomplishes this. It is thought-provoking and poignant; raises hope and inspires.
To read the first issue of Small Potatoes, click here.
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