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Exploring The Metaphorist with Martin Settle

September 26, 2022 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

Regular readers of my Storied Charlotte blog might remember last year’s post about Martin (Marty) Settle and his memoir titled Teaching During the Jurassic:  Wit and Wisdom from an Old Hippie Teacher.  Well, Marty has a new collection of poetry that Finishing Line Press just released.  Titled The Metaphorist, this collection looks at nature through a metaphorical lens.  For more information about this collection, please click on the following link:  https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/the-metaphorest-by-martin-settle/

I contacted Marty and asked him how he came to write the poems in The Metaphorist.  I also asked him if he would be willing to share one of the poems from this collection, which he generously agreed to do.  Here is what he sent to me:

This book of poetry comes, first of all, from my unending love of plants and animals. Over the years, I have become quite familiar with the flora, fauna, and fungi of our region. But these poems are not just any nature poems, but nature poems that are in line with current, ecological discoveries and philosophies. The themes of The Metaphorest fit into many of the new words and terms that are becoming salient in these times – Symbiocene, Wood Wide Web, Anthropocene, Grammar of Animacy, Mutualism, and Mycorrhizal Networks. My title is a neologism to add to this list of terms; metaphorest is a synthesis of metaphor and forest. The poems in this collection find delight not only in the existence of so many creatures but the metaphorical language that they provide us with. 

Of course, you know my writing roots are in Charlotte. Working at UNC Charlotte has provided me with many writing mentors – Robin Hemley, Robert Grey, Lucinda Grey, and Chris Davis.  In addition, Irene Blaire Honeycutt over the years with Sensoria has provided me with inspirational poets and workshops. Currently, Charlotte Lit has been a source of readers, workshops, and courses, from which I always come away renewed in my writing.

As to sharing one of the poems, how about this poem from the South.

Pokeweed in the South

in its early stages
pokeweed rises with
hands humble in prayer
as plentiful in spring
as a crop of Christians
at Easter service

then it can be cut
baptized in boiling water
and brought to the table
a poor man’s spinach

the ritual can be repeated
the pokeweed does not die
a horizontal tuber
buried in the ground
continues to send up shoots
an immortal that has saved
many from starvation

maturity is the problem
the crimson stems
grow as high as a human
and maiden hair racemes 
hang down with purple-black berries
that attract like a woman’s nipples 

desire comes in seeing the pleasure
of birds feeding 
and flying off with berries – 
mockingbirds, cardinals, catbirds
eat and sing poke 

but humans cannot
even grasp a stalk
without tainting their blood
to eat would be death
the only immortality in these juices
is to write with their ink
or dye with their stain

I appreciate Marty’s willingness to share his pokeweed poem with the readers of my blog.  There are several pokeweeds growing in my backyard, so I am familiar with this plant.  However, after reading Marty’s poem, I now look at pokeweeds in a whole new way.  Through his poetry, Marty helps us transcend our familiar world and celebrate with him the metaphorical wonders that he associates with the natural world. I congratulate Marty on the publication of The Metaphorist, and I thank him for his insightful and original contribution to Storied Charlotte’s poetry library.   

Tags: naturepoetry
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