Sea Changes
Curated by Bethany Nowviskie and Kimberly Gillette
“With a change of government the permanent cobalt, / …the permanent flux / of ochre shallows.”
— Derek Walcott, “A Sea-Change”
In this time of sweeping political, social, and environmental change, we are inspired by Derek Walcott’s understanding of the unalterable and of what endures—even through our daily currents and in “permanent flux.” We’ve assembled a set of oceanic broadsides that look to water for meaning.
Read Camille Dungy for tidal notions of motherhood and a liquid erosion of bodily integrity. Look for aggregate sublimation in Claudia Rankine. Seek new crossings, horizons, and passages from Jericho Brown, Gregory Pardlo, and Cornelius Eady—whose ode to Olympic swimmer Simone Manuel challenges “all the assumptions / That had to drown.” Dive deep with Marcus Wicker. Ask what washes over you.
