Till the Tide: An Anthology of Mermaid Poetry, edited by Trista Edwards

Till the Tide: An Anthology of Mermaid Poetry seeks to investigate the archetypal mermaid and her many variations through contemporary voices. In poetry, the mermaid as symbol and muse for verse extends to Dickinson, Yeats, Hughes, Eliot, Keats, Homer, Neruda, Rich, Atwood, Shakespeare, and Milton, just to name a few. Of course, mermaid has become an amalgamation, the flagship word, for siren, water nymph, sea witch, seductress, femme fatale, and enchantress.

The poets featured here all engage with the mermaid and her many symbolic complexities: her femininity, sensuality, mystery, villainy, and voice. It is the last detail, voice, which is perhaps the most defining element. It is, after all, the mermaid’s mesmerizing voice that leads you to either ruin or transformation. Once you hear her, your life will forever be changed.

The poems in this anthology will encounter the mermaid in a less traditional sense, often placing her in modern and unexpected settings: leading swim lessons at the Aquatic Arts Academy, managing a pizza shop before landing a gig at Weeki Wachee, or lounging around her timeshare. These settings adding to the many ways these poets question, how does the mermaid subsist today?

Contributors include poets such as Ravi Shankar, Matthea Harvey, Caitlin Thomson, Rebecca Hazelton, Dante Di Stefano, Traci Brimhall, Martin Ott, and many others.