25 Death Poems: Call for Submissions
Atlas Poetica
25 Death Poems: Call for Submissions
On April 15, 2019
Categories: Calls for Submissions, News, Press Releases
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The Special Features section of the Atlas Poetica web site is seeking submissions for a collection of ’25 Death Poems' to be edited by Michael H. Lester. This collection will be published on the AtlasPoetica.org website.
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Let's face it—we are all going to die sooner or later. Can we die with grace? Should we write our own epitaph? Will there be an afterlife? Should our loved ones burn us or bury us? Should we even think about dying while we are alive? These questions vex and dismay.
I always ask myself, what would an ant do? Invariably, I have my answer—soldier on—and when the end has come, die with grace and be grateful for the days you lived and fought for Queen and country (or ate Bon Bons and watched TV).
But then, so far as I know, ants are not compelled to write poetry—certainly not tanka, and most assuredly not death poems. So, in this inquiry, I cannot look to the industrious, intrepid ant for counsel. I am, we are, on our own here.
What is a death poem? *
In East Asian tradition, originating from Zen Buddhism, in recognition of the transient and impermanent nature of life, the literate among society wrote poems reflecting upon death in general and upon their own impending death. Inherent in these poems and in the spiritual beliefs from which they arose is an awareness of death. The Japanese word for death poem is jisei 辞世, most commonly written as a waka, also known in modern times as tanka (jisei-ei 辞世詠).
Traditional waka used metaphors, such as cherry blossoms, winter, etc., to suggest death.
Here are some examples of traditional waka, which could employ various techniques, including humor to reflect upon death.
Bury me when I die
beneath a wine barrel
in a tavern.
With luck
the cask will leak
Moriya Sen'an (d. 1838)
This delightful and humorous death poem certainly stands the test of time! As does the following jisei by Japanese Zen master Hakuin Ekaku (白隠 慧鶴; 1685-1768), which employs pathos, ethos, and wisdom, with a touch of wry humor—notice the repetition of death, die, died, die!—so much for metaphors!
Oh young folk —
if you fear death,
die now!
Having died once
you won't die again.
* I have borrowed heavily from Wikipedia for the foregoing discussion. You can find all the references, attributions, and citations here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_poem
Perhaps, modern English tanka can find its own path to poeticize death.
Some recent death poems of my own may serve as examples:
bury me
or scatter my ashes
at sea
you pick the place, my friend
it matters not to me
As you see, I have shamelessly employed rhyme, punctuation, and even repeated the word me at the end of lines one and five. If I am dying, I sure as hell am not going to stay on my diet!
on this earth
how long I have traveled
hither and yon
yet where shall I rest my bones
now that I am dead and gone
There I go again with the rhymes. I suppose I am a bit incorrigible. Mea culpa.
Submissions: We invite you to submit five death poems for this Special Feature, but will choose only one poem from each poet, in keeping with the theme and format of previous 25 poem Special Features on the Atlas Poetica website. We seek original poems; however, we will also consider tanka previously published on personal social media accounts, as long as the poet provides publication information. We are not accepting tanka prose, or poetry that has been published in journals, books, or other collaborative websites prior to being submitted to the 25 Death Poems Special Feature.
Follow the strict rules of modern tanka as you understand them, or bust out of those rules and let your heart and soul decide how you want to write five poetic lines within the broad confines of modern tanka.
I am not a stickler for rules. What I am looking for is poetry. Surprise me. Surprise yourself. After all, if you don't do it when you are dying, when?
Please read and follow the general submission guidelines for Atlas Poetica, which you can find here: http://atlaspoetica.org/?page_id=6. If you have trouble accessing the page from your mobile device, then try accessing from your computer. Unfortunately, I will not be able to consider submissions that do not follow the guidelines.
Send all your death poems in the body of an email to ATPO25de...@gmail.com with the subject line: ATPO-25 death poems - [Your full name] beginning April 15, 2019, but no later than the deadline of June 30, 2019. I will send periodic reminders as the deadline approaches. The planned publication date is fall 2019. Atlas Poetica publishes Special Features on an irregular schedule.
You must submit all poems in English, but we will consider poems written in other languages if you provide an English translation. Correspondence for the anthology will be in English. You must identify all translators and you must certify you have the translator’s permission to publish if selected. Translators will receive a byline.
As indicated above, the general Atlas Poetica guidelines apply; therefore, poets must be age 16 or older. Poems should be contained in the body of an email. Please query before sending attachments. To see the full list of guidelines, as well as Special Features from the past, go to the main web page.
Deadline: As indicated, the submission period will begin on April 15, 2019, and end on June 30, 2019.
Despite the theme of this Special Feature, I quote Mr. Spock: Live long and prosper!
I look forward to your submissions!
Editor, Atlas Poetica
A Journal of World Tanka
AtlasPoetica.org
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