Poetry. Music. Art.
Kate Westfall
My most recent 6-poem booklet is called "Ladies of the Sea". I am especially excited about this one because the content focuses strongly on the imaginative. The poems reside in a fantasy realm that includes the seductive and the sinister. It embraces powerful females and explores the danger of the unknown. Each poem tells a story about a specific type of mer-maid. For example, the "Octodame", the "Crabdamsel", the "Whale Woman", etc.
Here is the first poem from "Ladies of the Sea":
Mermaid
Buckled at the boot and woolen waist
in layers to maintain an air on their skin,
behind their sculpted homage personified at the helM,
they sail among the moon’s reflections,
curves of shoreline,
tides,
in a realm of wetness -
a realm of female. ShE
is a mermaid in fishnet hosiery -
a single-stocking lady painted in lace glaze, heR
bondage lingerie a snare for the suited sailors
awash with confidence, defiance combined with deference,
each chest a two-chambered druM
driving a man toward what he hopes to call conquest,
mast hinging on her favor.
At their approach to this part of her body of water,
she decides to deny the men their marinA.
She decides:
this ship will be shuffled.
From their four directions she sends them back.
Pliant as cards, she snaps them
back-flat in a flip of sea-spray confettI.
Knaves with heads knocked together,
in boots meant to anchor them to their decks,
anchored to her bottom,
in their decks they are laiD.
"Ladies of the Sea", along with all of my poetry books, is available on this website, or at any of my performances. They are also currently for sale at Temple Court Coffee in Mansfield, Ohio, and Main Street Books, also in Mansfield.
Next Open Mic is on Thursday, June 19th, at Temple Court Coffee in downtown Mansfield, Ohio. 7-9pm. All ages. Poetry, Music, all those bits.
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