The internet as a virtual museum: The Central California Poetry Journal

The Central California Poetry Journal

I regret to admit that it was only after reading a news report describing how family members and friends of the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. explosion victim, Jessica Morales, are using Facebook to share their shock and dismay that I began to fully recognize the value of the internet as a permanent digital repository for preserving the legacy of one's life. In light of this tragic incident, I've also been forced to reassess my hitherto smug and dismissive attitude toward the thousands of online literary journals that for any number of reasons have been largely abandoned by editors, writers, and readers alike. It's no longer convenient for me to categorize them as merely the virtual remains of poor quality websites whose perpetual anonymity is deserved. Although many are indeed half-hearted attempts whose naive and immature content are rightly to be cast aside, if not deleted entirely (arrogance be gone!), some are in fact veritable virtual environments where the work, passion, and history of once thriving subcultures and modes of expression can and should be accessed for inspiration and reflection.

One such site I feel worthy of repeat visits is Scott Galloway's The Central California Poetry Journal, an electronic subsidiary of Solo Publications. Officially run and maintained from 1996 to 2003, Galloway's journal offers a vibrant collection of nature poems focused on the topics and themes exclusive to the geography of, and issues facing, central California.

In appearance The Central California Poetry Journal is nothing more than Times New Roman font and a running index column providing a straightforward annual publication list of previously featured poets. Click on the name of any poet and the reader will be directed to a brief author bio followed by his or her selected works.

Galloway's online journal (influenced in large part by the poetry of Robinson Jeffers) is by no means comprehensive; rather, it gives readers unfamiliar with the region an introductory, albeit meaningful, inkling into how California's diverse geography can give shape to the poetry of those who've either visited or resided within her borders.

I was therefore pleasantly surprised to chance upon the poetry of fifth generation California native Melisande Luna, whose work is featured in the online journal's 2003 edition:

To Reap

On restless nights I've hammered north,
hooked I-5 towards the valley,
came screaming down the Grapevine;
where August's breath blew
warm and pungent,

reeking of earth and onions:
the scent of Lily's last gasp.
I remember the night her cornflower
eyes set with the stars --
as dusty palms crushed her lips.

Naked, she knelt in furrows
amid mute foliage and chittering
witnesses, who scuttled and chewed,
indifferent to a fast meal's fate.

Alabaster skin encrusted with clay,
her iron tincture blossomed in gullies,
bloodied the vagabond river's loam.

I went to reap memories
of Lily, in the deeply plowed rows,
where breath quit her tiny lungs.
I'd let my footsteps kick up clouds of silt,
puffs as brief as my sister's quick life.

The copper-bite of loss ripened
bitter among the onions,
where I harvested bumper crops.

Luna's word choice and use of imagery to depict the literal and figurative loss of her sister is accomplished with great subtlety and skill. The poet not only succeeds to couch the implication of human loss within the context of personal experience, but also to highlight and embed the contiguous, interdependent and inseparable bond our species shares with nature.

If you're interested in poetry specific to the geography it seeks to represent, and from which it draws its inspiration, then definitely take a moment to peruse The Central California Poetry Journal.