Submission for the Belle Ombre Magazine

 

To: submissions@belleombre.org 

From: spurlooc@gmail.com 

         Hello, Mr. Fisher, I am writing to you to submit the poem below, entitled “If my Heart were a Mountain”. This is a concrete poem about the idea of becoming vulnerable. I had written it because I feel that strength is too often a valued trait, and not often enough is emotional softness. I believe that nature is too often made into a harsh and indifferent being reducing people to instinct, but really there is an equal part of the earth where tenderness is just as prevalent. I believe my work would fit in with the rest of your journal’s catalogue because of its reflective look on nature, and personal identity. 

       My name is Owen Spurlock. I attend Butler Community College, and I have not published any works so far. I live in Wichita Kansas, but I am originally from the Ozark mountains, and much of this work is inspired by the world I experienced there. The Ozarks are not rocky mountains, nor are they marked by bluffs and clifftops. The Ozarks are soft, mossy, and full of gentle wildlife. In this landscape I saw a similarity in myself. In Arkansas, the local culture heavily pushes hyper-masculinity on its boys, but I never felt I aligned with those traits. I wanted to show how this kind of social environment presupposes ideas of manliness on young people, just as we reflect those attitudes back on the natural environment. It is normal to not feel aligned with the traits that the world believes you “should” have, just as a mountain is still a mountain even when it is soft, tender, small, and forgiving.  

Thank you for reading,  

Owen Spurlock 

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If my Heart were a Mountain

If my heart were a mountain 

Harsh, unmoving, and firm, 

I would be a stronger thing. 

The air would thin as I rose. 

I would be an awe to those 

Who crept and dared at me, 

And I would be unmapped  

Even by skilled explorers. 

My waters would wildly turn 

And unfurl violent caps of white veins 

That would carve the world to my whims 

And carry my blood through the landscapes,  

And my heart would be strong, and rigid and strong 

 

But then, if my sediments were permeable, and my stones soft 

With blue-green moss. If my rocky peaks were not so? If my heart were rounded 

And eroded to a most modest height, then wouldn’t I reveal such fine hints of gentleness? 

Wouldn’t the glimmering dew encrust each inch of the forest and be misted away in fine vapor? 

Wouldn't it wet noses of the Black Bear and her cubs, or woosh under wings of mourning doves? 

Instead of rapid rivers wouldn’t the vessels of my creeks, smoothly towing, give such cozy homes 

To the croaking toads, to the buttery rainbow fish, and to the ginger faced fox? 

Wouldn’t I be so warm? Yes, I think that my heart is a soft thing, yes. 

It offers its everything to the world, its sunny clearings  

And mud-soaked burrows to the biggest and littlest 

Of things who may lay in the grass  

Or find comfort tight in the dirt. 

If my heart were a mountain. 

It would not be so strong.  

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        I chose Belle Ombre Magazine to submit my work to. After reviewing some of their work and using the Two Poems submission, by Jeffery Tao, on their website, I believe that my work would be in a good place here. Many of the works in this magazine have a heavy emphasis on the natural world and the beautiful parts of living, which are two things I really love to write about. The choices of works for their issues include so many cultured and diverse experiences, even submissions in a myriad of languages. Belle Ombre magazine is also very straightforward as a site, and they’re much easier to navigate than some of the other magazines I had researched for this project.