Fall 2016
Issue Published September 27, 2016

This issue is organized in two sections; scroll down the page or click the links below to jump to a section:

1. Introduction
2. Poems (You may also access all poems on a single page: Page 1: , Page 2: , Page 3: .)

1. Introduction

To Readers of Monterey Poetry Review:

In her ''New and Selected Essays'' Denise Levertov wrote, ''One is in despair over the current manifestation of malevolent imbecility and the seemingly invincible power of rapacity, yet finds oneself writing a poem about the trout lilies in the spring woods.”

​Ms. Levertov, one of the foremost poets of the last century, also was quoted as saying “All poems are political”, a statement that stuck with me over the years. Whether a poem speaks about politics directly, points to natural beauty, or advances spiritual wholeness it has political resonance in what it asks the reader to look at, think about, feel, do, or be.

I call this new version of MPR “The Political Issue”, because the current scene in our country and the world forces us to address that area now above all else.

I believe America is speeding headlong toward a series of crises that demand changes. In Dan Linehan’s interview of Maria Teutsch and her accompanying poem, she speaks about such   changes, “The Revolution Will Have Its Sky”. I don’t know if she means some people will rise up and fight the government, but I am cognizant of the fact that many of us, perhaps the majority (of poets especially), aren’t satisfied with how things are.

A way things can change other than physical force is individual transformations until a “critical mass of enlightened people” has been reached (I’m indebted to my friend, Jeffry Kiehl, climate scientist and Jungian analyst for this concept). The poems of Dane Cervine, poet and psychotherapist, are concerned with the possibility of going further in individual psychological/spiritual development. Bill Minor’s work touches on that and George Lober’s does too.

Then there’s the beautiful poem of Carolyn Brigit Flynn called “Prayer for All Beloved Life”, a work certainly motivated by awe and compassion. From my perspective it too is political, for how can we appreciate genuine beauty without maturity and I believe spiritual maturity isn’t possible without inner discovery and change.

Poetry, it seems to me, can be a conduit for inner change. Many of the poems here address that, if not directly, then implicitly. As Robert Nielsen’s poem “Workshop” implies, poetry gives us tools for change. Some poems here made me laugh; others made me think; a few spurred me to action. I like to laugh and think and act in the public interest, so I found all the poems in this issue attractive in various ways.

As I write this, it’s September 11, 2016, my 80th birthday. I had my 65th on the day of the airliner attacks, events that reminded me it’s a very imperfect world we live and die in. But it can be improved. I believe poetry is part of the solution to make it better. So write on, you poets! Give us your best offerings! Provide impetus for change!
 
 John

2. Poems


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Editor's Note

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