Keibooks announces Slow Motion: The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack 2nd ed.
- 23 July 2011 —Perryville, Maryland, USA
Keibooks announces publication of the second edition of *Slow Motion : The
Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack* by M. Kei. Hailed as a “break-through
collection of waterman poetry from the Chesapeake Bay by a poet who actually
knows what he is talking about,” *Slow Motion* is culled from the journals
of Marylander who crewed five years aboard a skipjack. Skipjacks, the last
fleet of sail to fish commercially in North America, are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. Poet M. Kei kept journals during his
time aboard the ship, but being a poet, he kept them in the form of short
verse. Each poem presents a snapshot of life past and present on the
Chesapeake Bay, and the collection is Recommended Reading by the Chesapeake
Bay Project, the multi-state governmental agency responsible for overseeing
the restoration of the Bay.
The second edition is published by Keibooks of Perryville, Maryland, with a
handsome new cover. The 160 pages contain an introduction by the poet,
followed by approximately three hundred short poems—tanka, especially, but
haiku and prose interludes as well. The journal covers several voyages on
the Bay, working the dredges, skipjack races, and visits to various small
towns and rivers of the Chesapeake Bay. Residents of the Bay will recognize
their hometowns, while visitors will get an intimate view of the Bay thank
to an eloquent native guide.
in the mouth
of the North East River,
lines of crab pots
and the low silhouettes
of crab boats at work
coming up
on Worton Creek,
another flock
of sailboats
with white wings
Motor Vessel Anna,
her anchor as red
with rust
as the Russian star
on her bridge
Annapolis—
midis
in white uniforms,
buns neatly pinned up
under their hats
5 am rush hour:
deadrise after deadrise
diesels roaring
the clatter of
drawbridge alarms
Calvert Cliffs—
a schooner
the size of a moth
a river of stars . . .
a single red one
on the bow of the barge
Sharp's Island—
nothing left
but stories
“Slow Motion is a break-through collection of waterman poetry from the
Chesapeake Bay by a poet who actually knows what he is talking about. M. Kei
crews on the title boat, the Skipjack Martha Lewis. The short lyric forms
used in *Slow Motion* are perfect vehicles for the laconic voice of the
waterman. Kei has captured a bit of Chesapeake magic in a bottle and all who
love the Bay, boating, and poetry, are a little richer for it.” ~Denis M.
Garrison, author of *First Winter Rain*
“Kei, in his *Slow Motion: The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack,* has made
these poems on the Chesapeake Bay with its sailboats and workmen and beauty
into a *tour de force*. Having read hundreds and hundreds of modern haiku, I
find that Kei's, along with his many tanka, communicate his joy in the
beauty of sky and wave and sea and work. There is a sustaining harmony in
the collection, at times earthy, at times transcendental, at times
Whitmanesque. In this journey of log poetry, along with commentary and
notes, Kei has extended the range of our poetic world.”—Sanford Goldstein,
co-translator of* Midaregami, Tangled Hair*
**
“A Skipjack is a historic vessel where form follows function with a rough
beauty. These characteristics are apparent in the sensitive, poetic voyages
of an aging boat and the men who work her sails. This history and trip log
is sure to delight any sailor or lover of the Chesapeake Bay . . . and of
poetry.”—Kirsty Karkow, prize-winning poet; author of *water poems* and *
shorelines*.
Keibooks
P O Box 516
Perryville, MD 21903
USA
Purchase online at: https://www.createspace.com/3638786 or through your favorite online retailer
—
Keibooks
publisher of literature for discerning readers
P O Box 1118, Elkton, MD, 21922 USA
http://Lulu.com/Keibooks
Keibooks (at) gmail (dot) com
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