Poetry of the Wild

Poetry of the Wild

Mystic Seaport

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Seaport-Box
Poetry box by Jon Day

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lost at sea
by Joanie DiMartino

“Mr. Howland overboard Oars were thrown then and waste boat cleared away… he went down before we could get to him.”

–Logbook, 12/1/1881, Charles W. Morgan

the beige smooth of driftwood
outstretched   as though reaching   still
toward fractured waves curling
onto a fog-laden
shore   cold light
reflects off the small glass
bud vase   rose-less
in this winter’s dusk

the whaleman’s cup
long empty   a dented tin haven
brimmed with gossamer
cobwebs   tilted on its side   handle
to the splintered table top like an ear
listening for the cries of gulls

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“I desire only ink for wine, only stanzas for bread.” -Joanie DiMartino
Poem by Joanie DiMartino. She has work published in many literary journals and anthologies.  Her first chapbook, Licking the Spoon, was published with Finishing Line Press. Her first full-length collection, Strange Girls was published by Little Red Tree Publishing, and the poem “A Treatise on Handling Snakes” from that collection received a nomination for a Pushcart Prize. Strange Girls was nominated for the 2011 Connecticut Book Award, and is presently being developed for a stage performance by director Steve Rotolo in Salem, MA.  Her work has been translated into Bulgarian and Spanish.
Her poems have been featured in several art exhibits in Lexington, Kentucky, including Sideshow, a collaborative project with the Women Artists Group; Collaborations + Catalysts, an exhibit highlighting combined mediums; and Connections–We Are All One.  She was featured in the exhibit Women in the Arts, a show by local artist Deborah Curtis, where her portrait and poem, “Self-Portrait,” were on display at ArtWorks in Norwich, Connecticut.  She is currently at work on several projects, including a collection of poems about the 19th-century whaling industry, highlighting the career of the Charles W. Morgan whaling barque, and is also editing an anthology about the Jersey Shore for Jersey publisher unboundCONTENT, to raise funds for restoration from Hurricane Sandy damage.  She hosts Soup & Sonnets, a monthly literary salon for women, and directs the Hidden Treasures Poetry Series in partnership with the Courtyard Art Gallery in downtown Mystic.  Along with performing poetry, she reviews books and leads workshops and discussion groups. DiMartino resides with her son in Mystic, CT.
Poetry box by Jon Day. Jon grew up in New England in a small town that still allowed the children to walk to school. He wasn’t introduced to the Internet until the age of 8. As a child he dreamed of becoming a paleontologist, ran a small business shoveling snow, raking leaves, and mowing lawns- he was a young visionary entrepreneur with big goals…
Opened and ran the Agaake Salat Gallery in Norwich, Connecticut from 2004-2006.
Attended Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn New York, studied Sculpture from 2004-2009.
One day, Jon decided to leave New York in pursuit of something a ‘little more real’. He became a historical restoration carpenter in Connecticut, and soon moved on to study architecture, boat building, and sailing. Jon was hired at Mystic Seaport Museum, as an apprenticing shipwright in 2010, specifically on the restoration of the Charles W. Morgan.  He was raised to full shipwright status after a few years study. He currently lives in Ledyard, Connecticut where he focuses on sculpture, and living life fully.