Steve Mentz

THE BOOKFISH

THALASSOLOGY, SHAKESPEARE, AND SWIMMING

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World Ocean’s Day Swim Sonnet

June 8, 2021 by Steve Mentz

Where’s the world, I murmur as cold water

Clasps pale thighs. It’s true, I’m no Achilles,

But the sloppy ancient sea’s my author

And guide, enfolds me wet, smells like lilies –

The festering kind, you know the ones. Worse

Than multitudes. And now in, in, endless

And still now, around me, cold, the world’s hearse,

Earth’s caul and blanket, silent and friendless –

For who dares friend the sea’s hungry limbs?

Like an old man’s weak arms around the knees

Of the sea-goddess’ boy death-child I swim.

I splash multitudes, the past, the faint breeze

That is history soaking flesh. Wet now

I embark. Tales of power to unknow.

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About Steve

Steve Mentz
Professor of English
St. John’s University
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Shakespearean. Ecocritic. Swimmer. New book Ocean #objectsobjects Professor at St. John's in NYC. #bluehumanities #pluralizetheanthropocene

stevermentz
stevermentz Steve Mentz @stevermentz ·
20 Jan

Send us your book proposals!

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stevermentz Steve Mentz @stevermentz ·
31 Dec

Much to remember in '22, including a fantastic fall in Germany at the @CarsonCenter. But especially one day in late October, while isolating with Covid in a rural farmhouse in Bavaria, when I saw my first all-creative publication, these little poems --

http://www.ghostbirdpress.org/2022/10/swim-poems-by-steve-mentz.html

Reply on Twitter 1609321380100669440 Retweet on Twitter 1609321380100669440 1 Like on Twitter 1609321380100669440 14 Twitter 1609321380100669440
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