Only the Sea Keeps: Poetry of the Tsunami

Only The Sea Keeps: Poetry Of The Tsunami, collaboratively edited by Judith R. Robinson, Joan E. Bauer and Sankar Roy, is a collection of poetry inspired by the tragedy and sorrow caused by the tsunami worldwide. Deeply moving and intimate, Only The Sea Keeps gives the reader the gift of knowing, feeling and becoming a part of the tragedy. Faithfully recommended for all who feel the repercussions of the tsunami's strike. Sonnet After The Tsunami: Oh the sea will return and sing out/our names from the leagues below;/claim its face here -- /nose to the horizon,/its lips of mud,/foaming eyes.//Pa and Ma are in the heavens./They re safe. Neighbors and/animals gone,/birds so quiet what's speech/for? A throaty sound of this/one pebble on the beach.//Roll it again,/roll. -- Alamgir Hashmi

"Only the sea keeps" offers a dazzling array of different styles of modern poetry and moving display of humanity and empathy. It astonished me to read so many different points of view on one tragic event. My favorite poem in the book is "If nature had a conscience" by Marc Jampole, in which the poetic voice is a dispassionate nature destroying, and then observing a group of women observing the destruction. With complexly musical rhythms and word sounds, Jampole builds a stately dirge that imbues the poem with a sense of tragedy without drifting into sentimentality. Three cheers for all the poets in this fine anthology, and an extra cheer for Jampole.

Compiling such a balanced and appropriate anthology of Tsunami poetry obviously required profound mindfulness and heart. The editors met the challenge, sharing compassionate reflections on unfathomable despair, anguish, and loss. We also read of hope, heroism, divinity, the delicate blossom of temporal existence, and nature's impersonal cycles. The voices span the vantage points: the helpless TV news witness, the surviving tourist, the volunteer, the victim who lost everything, as well as the raw voice of nature itself. Seeds of wisdom and beauty sprout in these pages, amid the soil of suffering. An exceptional and important work.