Metta Sama, “le animal and other creatures” (Miel Press, 2015)

As pleasing to the eye as it is to the ear the contents of Meta Sama‘s le animal and other creatures (Miel Press, 2015) remind us that creativity takes many forms and seeks many tributaries out to the sea of expression. The divisions apparent in this chapbook actually function as bridges from one creative process to another.

Just as Sama’s poems take surprising lefts and rights to form a winding map of a given poem’s voice, the entire collection juts out and dips in, in such a way that a pattern is formed. Each deviation from this pattern heightens the experience of the poem while adding additional depth to the whole. This is all to say that Sama’s work is functioning on multiple levels, stimuli absorbed through multiple senses, and textual conversations taking place independent of the text– and you need to read up to keep up.

tantrums are failed objects broken over the italicized moon… hold until shatter

poppy or pollen until pixelated or love… the back waxing and waning…

the raised eyebrows of clouds… the weary hips of mountains… some waters rip

and tear… sometimes lit is just the shake of air pressure… and a stranger’s knee

adjusts to meet you

What animals do we depend on for survival, for protection, and for love? How do we project the different versions of ourselves on the creatures in our lives?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/poetry