Philly Poetry Chapbook Review is pleased to present three original poems by poet Jeanne Bamforth as our seventh and final biweekly featured poet of the Winter 2025 issue.
Poems
New Course
I used to hate the Tilt-a-Whirl
and other force-filled vessels.
Pushed against edges
and each other
with every screaming slosh
of tea-cupped steel.
I like to think that now I list
with curved backbone,
low center of gravity.
Draw deep with ballasted limb,
reach through spars to full height,
yearn with the breast of airfoil.
It has taken time
and inclination
but now I know
my course:
To leave this small mind.
To right nothing.
Heeling
With ballast and beam and
one more degree of heel
you sing full throttle,
your head thrown back.
We’re good, you remind me
again and again but I grit.
I growl. Am terrorized
by right and wrong.
My physics of fear is sound,
keener than knowledge
of lead in the keel.
Wrested from plumb
I grip harder.
Don’t hate me like I
do. I’ll get it someday.
You remind me and
I remember one time
maybe two maybe when
I was worn and held our course
without seizing. I heard
the motion and all strings
came into tune
with forward pitch
and the sharp angles
that brought me up
sloughed away.
Current Conditions
No wind but a heaving sea. Nothing to do but keep engine revved,
focus huddled, sail cloth bundled to the boom.
A small twirling propeller asks our way forward.
A gull escapes the sickening surface we share for a glance,
for a sigh between swells while the roiling rebuilds.
Wings, toes, distant eyes lift off the froth.
Beside me is the one in this churn with me.
Hand on tiller, eyes on the wrestle.
Our torsos search for some center of gravity.
Did the gull roll cold eyes as it chose a different point in space?
Unphased by mechanics of attachment or offness, uninclined to look
back into this cockpit at two mid-to-late humans
in ski hats and Gore-Tex,
thermosed tea rolling around their feet
with remnants of last night’s conversation.
The depth sounder is reading seaweed again, flashing untruths.
The GPS says there’s no way we’d hit bottom here
but we could be better at staying on course.
Another swell breaks over the bow, seeps through the scuppers
and around our hips as we dip into the next trough
and continue to reel side to side to side.
About “New Course”
This is part of a series of poems where I explore my experience of learning to sail later in life, an activity brought on by falling in love with someone who loves sailing more than anything – everything – else. Each time I went out with her – a very patient, expert captain – there would be a point when an innate terror would rise uncontrollably in me. A fear of not being in control, of motions I didn’t understand, of going against some rigid inheritance. I hated the fear. I wanted to get it right, be an able first mate. I wanted to feel the thrill like she did, embrace the power and freedom. Studying the physics of it all – the airfoil, the multiple vectors of force – helped me start to trust what the boat is designed to do and how we adjust the sails and tiller in response to shifting conditions. But for me, letting go and getting my mind out of the way is a never-ending project.
Author Bio
Jeanne L. Bamforth lives and writes on Merrymeeting Bay, an inland confluence of six rivers near the coast of Maine. She has had poems published in Balancing Act 2, an Anthology of Poems by Maine Women (Littoral Books), Northern New England Review, Stone Poetry Quarterly, and Willows Wept Review.
Contents
Book Excerpt: Further Thought by Rae Armantrout
Read the featured Excerpt Poem of the Month for January 2025, “Further Thought” from Go Figure by Rae Armantrout, along with a few words from the poet.
Read five poems by poet A.L. Nielsen, our first biweekly poet of the Winter 2025 issue, along with a few words about the poem “When We Walked”.
Chapbook Poem: The Poem as an Act of Betrayal by Benjamin S. Grossberg
Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for January 2025, “The Poem as an Act of Betrayal” from As Are Right Fit by Benjamin S. Grossberg, along with a few words from the poet.
Jan. ‘25: Year One: What worked, what didn’t, and what to expect
Editor Aiden Hunt looks back at our first year and discusses changes to Philly Poetry Chapbook Review in 2025.
Three Poems by Shelli Rottschafer
Read three poems by poet Shelli Rottschafer, our second biweekly poet of the Winter 2025 issue, along with a few words about the poem “Because We Remember.”
Dancing With the Dead: On Ragnarök at the Father-Daughter Dance by Todd Dillard
“Todd Dillard successfully transgresses the unspoken cultural embargo on work that grapples with life during the COVID-19 pandemic in his new chapbook, Ragnarök at the Father-Daughter Dance.”
Read three poems by poet Wendell Hawken, our third biweekly poet of the Winter 2025 issue, along with a few words about the poem “First Hurt”.
Book Excerpt: Slow Chalk by Elaine Equi
Read the featured Excerpt Poem of the Month for February 2025, “Slow Chalk” from Out of the Blank by Elaine Equi, along with a few words from the poet.
Chapbook Poem: Caro M. by Angela Siew
Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for February 2025, “Caro M.” from Coming Home by Angela Siew, along with a few words from the poet.
Read four poems by poet Natalie Marino, our fourth biweekly poet of the Winter 2025 issue.
A Conversation with Kate Colby
Poet Kate Colby discusses her latest chapbook, ThingKing, her creative writing practices, and her penchant for poetry chapbooks with PCR Editor Aiden Hunt in this interview piece.
Read three poems by poet Adele Ross, our fifth biweekly poet of the Winter 2025 issue, along with a few words about the poem “Heavy Water”.
Book Excerpt: The Self-Combed Woman by Laynie Browne
Read the featured Excerpt Poem of the Month for March 2025, “The Self-Combed Woman” from Apprentice to a Breathing Hand by Laynie Browne, along with a few words from the poet.
Chapbook Poem: To Let Go by Deirdre Garr Johns
Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for March 2025, “To Let Go” from Fallen Love by Deirdre Garr Johns, along with a few words from the poet.
Read four poems by poet Sarena Tien, our sixth biweekly poet of the Winter 2025 issue, along with a few words about the poem “Mother Tongue”.
Life’s Lazy River Journey: On Tributaries by Aspen Everett
“A thread of adulation for matriarchal spirituality and the lifegiving value of water runs through the collection. Its first poem pays homage to [Toni] Morrison.” Read the full chapbook review by Shelli Rottschafer.
Three Poems by Jeanne Bamforth
Read three poems by poet Jeanne Bamforth, our seventh and final biweekly poet of the Winter 2025 issue, along with a few words about the poem “New Course”.