Philly Poetry Chapbook Review is pleased to feature Alex Gurtis’s poem “After the Hurricane Stole My Hammock” as our second featured chapbook poem of Issue 5: September/October 2024. You can find more poetry in his chapbook, When the Ocean Comes to Me now available from Bottlecap Press.
After the Hurricane Stole My Hammock
You don’t disturb the remains,
sinew of rope and cloth
wrapped around shredded bark
water logged by a rising river
that will never recede.
You take a photo
of the shredded hammock,
in death your relaxation
has transcended into a JPEG.
Someone once told you that to escape
the system you must first swallow the red pill.
Despairing your refuge is gone
you decide to upload
the photo to the blockchain.
The hammock the hurricane
took away is now an NFT
that you buy and keep
in an electric picture frame
in the hallway with dozens of hooks
but no other frames.
After you choose to mint the NFT
you wonder if you should make digital prints
of your missing hammock and call it art.
Perhaps you will get richer and richer
while the rest of America drift apart in a wealth gap
worse than pre-Revolution France.
When our capitalist society collapses
you will use it to pay for virtual food
you still won’t be able to eat.
Affluence is tension strung between trees.
Absence is the only language of mutual understanding.
About the Poem
‘After the Hurricane Stole My Hammock’ was written in response to the climate crisis and a news report that crypto mining was causing an alarming spike in energy consumption translating into more carbon emissions. In part, I wanted to satirically imagine the hoops a crypto miner would jump through on a journey towards understanding their environmental impact. In constructing a chapbook around both climate and economic concerns, I felt like including this piece was a pivotal grounding point for the collection. While our speaker never quite finds the character growth we hope for, I was happy I got to memorialize a hammock I lost a few hurricanes ago. Sigh, I still miss that hammock.
Author Bio
Alex Gurtis is a poet and critic whose work has appeared in Autofocus, Barrelhouse, Hobart After Dark, Rejection Letters, and The Shore among others. A ruth weiss Foundation Maverick Poet Award Finalist, Alex received his MFA from the University of Central Florida. He is the co-founder of Zeppelin Books. You can find Alex on Instagram at apbg_alex or Twitter at @alexgurtis
From When the Ocean Comes to Me
When the Ocean Comes to Me is a collection dripping with the anxiety of the Anthropocene. Salt water rises along Florida’s coast as inhabitants watch a clock’s “hands chase each other/ along their predestined path.”
These poems meditate on how “education is a type of trauma” and ask how we can cope with the knowledge that our planet is changing before our eyes. Imagist studies of built environments come unraveled as late-stage capitalism erodes cities and natural landscapes alike.
Contents
Check out new poetry books for the week of 9/3 from Press 53, Variant Lit, Orison Books, Red Hen Press, Signal Editions, Knopf, New Directions, Wesleyan University Press, Bloodaxe Books, Blair, Third Man Books, BOA Editions Ltd., Copper Canyon Press and University of Pittsburgh Press.
Chapbook Poem: Frank’s Shoebox by Daniel Damiano
Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for September 2024, “Frank’s Shoebox” from The Concrete Jungle and the Surrounding Areas by Daniel Damiano, along with a few words from the poet.
Poetry Chapbooks (August 2024)
Check out our round-up of poetry chapbooks published in August 2024 by Small Harbor Publishing, Gnashing Teeth Publishing, Bottlecap Press and Finishing Line Press.
Check out new poetry books for the week of 9/10 from Lost Horse Press, Curbstone Books 2, Finishing Line Press, Brick Books, Alice James Books, University of Georgia Press, Four Way Books, University of Pittsburgh Press, Hub City Press, Autumn House Press, New Directions, Grayson Books and Wave Books.
Check out new poetry books being published the week of 9/17 from Red Hen Press, Wayne State University Press, Milkweed Editions, The Kent State University Press, Tin House Books, Wesleyan University Press, W. W. Norton & Company, Ecco, ECW Press, American Poetry Review, Querencia Press, White Pine Press, City Lights Publishers, BOA Editions, Holy Cow! Press, 42 Miles Press, Driftwood Press, Finishing Line Press, Button Poetry, Birds LLC and Metatron Press.
Sept/Oct ‘24: ModPo, Renewal, and Expansion
Read a message from Aiden Hunt about Issue 5 content, the future of Philly Poetry Chapbook Review, and the open online poetry course that inspired the creation of this journal.
Check out new poetry books for the week of 9/24 from Finishing Line Press, Papillote Press, At Bay Press, University of Iowa Press, Nightwood Editions, Andrews McMeel Publishing, House of Anansi Press, Carcanet Press Ltd., Red Hen Press, Perugia Press, Caitlin Press, NYRB Poets, University of Chicago Press and Scribner.
Check out new poetry books for the week of 10/1 from Galileo Press, Cardboard House Press, Press 53, Yorkshire Publishing, Book*hug Press, Lucid House Publishing, University of Arkansas Press, Eris, Roof Books, Polygon, University of Chicago Press, BOA Editions, Wave Books, Coach House Books, Button Poetry, LSU Press, CavanKerry Press, Tupelo Press, The Backwaters Press, Fulcrum Publishing, Wesleyan University Press, Persea, Liverlight, New Directions and Nightboat Books.
Poetry Chapbooks (September 2024)
Check out our round-up of poetry chapbooks published in September 2024 by Small Harbor Publishing, Factory Hollow Press, Wesleyan University Press, GASHER Press, Querencia Press, Black Ocean, Flume Press, RADIX, Red Ogre Press, Bloodaxe Books, Gnashing Teeth Publishing, Bottlecap Press and Finishing Line Press.
Check out new poetry books for the week of 10/8 from Green Writers Press, Unbound Edition Press, Finishing Line Press, Etruscan Press, Talonbooks, University of Arizona Press, University of Pittsburgh Press, Knopf, LSU Press, Princeton University Press, Alice James Books, Wave Books and Copper Canyon Press.
Check out new poetry books for the week of 10/15 from Finishing Line Press, Saturnalia Books, Curbstone Books 2, Roof Books, University of Iowa Press, Milkweed Editions, University of Chicago Press, Graywolf Press, BOA Editions Ltd., Copper Canyon Press, Haymarket Books, Granta Books, W.W. Norton, Nightboat Books, Knopf & Tin House Books.
Chapbook Poem: After the Hurricane Stole My Hammock by Alex Gurtis
Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for October 2024, “After the Hurricane Stole My Hammock” from When the Ocean Comes to Me by Alex Gurtis, along with a few words from the poet.