Category: poetry

Zbigniew Herbert on the Work of Poets

~ Chris Cocca ~ 1 Comment

“In Poland,” Herbert once stated, “we think of the poet as prophet;
he is not merely a maker of verbal forms or an imitator of reality. The poet expresses the deepest feelings and the widest awareness of people….

“The language of poetry differs from the language of politics. And, after all, poetry lives longer than any conceivable political crisis.

“The poet looks over a broad terrain and over vast stretches of time. He makes observations on the problems of his own time, to be sure, but he is a partisan only in the sense that he is a partisan of the truth. He arouses doubts and uncertainties and brings everything into question”

Quoted on the From the Editors page at the UCity Review.

Forthcoming at Quatrain.Fish

~ Chris Cocca ~ 2 Comments

Quatrain.Fish publishes very short poetry of four lines or less. Here’s their Editor’s Note:

I know for myself, when I set to write a short poem, I tend to end up with about six lines. Those of course, won’t be welcome here at Quatrain.Fish. Most poetry of four lines or less (fewer, if you insist) isn’t a poem at all, but part of a poem or an ill-formed thought. Yet if, as Poe claimed, long poems aren’t poems at all, then perhaps the most poetical of poems is the shortest of poems.

Perhaps.

True or not, a perfectly crafted, tiny poem is like a sharp knife or a sex-laden wink, an empty elevator shaft or the perfect vista bursting through fog: perfectly captured images and emotions that can creep into our lives and never leave. We hope Quatrain.Fish publishes one or two or three or thirty that can be that for you.

A piece of mine was just accepted for publication. I look forward to sharing it soon.

In the meantime, check out Quatrain.Fish. They are permanently closing to new submissions in December, so get your short work to them soon.