On the central coast of California, bordered on the south by the city of Monterey and on the north by Santa Cruz, is the queen among bays—Monterey Bay, or, as I prefer to call Her, as Goddess, Bay of Monterey. I have written a fair number of poems about the bay under the title Bay of Monterey, Poems of Monterey Bay. I have also begun a new work about the bay which I have decided would be The Giant Poem of Monterey Bay. This new work has engendered here its own website. But it is a project that I am taking to a whole new level. I am offering it as a collaborative giant poem with other poets. My invitation to participate is below.

Is it not an exciting prospect to offer our encounter with the Bay on the Internet? As I say, We are going out to all the world…

An Invitation to submit to:

Bay of Monterey

The Giant Poem of Monterey Bay

I have begun composing a large poem—what I call a Giant Poem—that would celebrate all aspects of Monterey Bay. I have come to realize that this could be, in fact, a collective venture. What I am suggesting is not an anthology of poems but one massive poem where individual contributions are woven into it. More specifically, this is what I am proposing and offering here as this website:

I am looking for contributions of poems, poetic fragments, poetically framed informational segments or factoids, even particular lines, that all have some reference to Monterey Bay and/or our civilization around the Bay. This would include then anything about the Bay, the living things of the Bay, places around the Bay, how we are interconnected with the Bay. Individual poems and poetic fragments will be embedded in the larger on-going poem itself. Those wanting to contribute should get some idea of what I have done so far (enter the poem below), but I am not saying that one must read it in its entirety in order to submit work. You are free to submit work as you are so called. If anyone wishes to participate in the actual weaving process itself, let me know. Contributions as they are woven in will therefore be posted as part of the Giant Poem as it appears here. Of course, full acknowledgement—credit—will be given to everyone appropriately within the poem itself. This will undoubtedly grow to a full-length work that I would hope to see manifest at some point as a book. It would be truly the unfolding of a new form of poetry. I have composed a Giant Poem for Santa Cruz already (which I could, at some point, take to the level of a collaborative project also) and am well aware of the challenge of doing justice to all the complexities of place. I realize that the participation of others could allow more of the complexities of our encounter with place to be celebrated and shared.

Note this, however: I am not a Postmodernist and this is not meant to be a Postmodernist form that revels in discontinuity and fragmentation. I consider this to be a New Age form of work that celebrates the interconnectedness of our being-with Bay of Monterey. I see this form as an example of the Mythos of place. (See my website for the link Mythos of Place.)

Any questions, please contact me.

My website: www.ronlampi.com