woman
tip your lid
across the land
you swell
with
offering
you
offer
offer
offer
The offerings in this collection are many. I recently read Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner’s, Iep Jāltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter, which led me into a deep exploration not only of her immersive, finely crafted poetry but also of Pacific Island history, poetry, and art. As a poet, performer, and climate activist, Jetn̄il-Kijiner is prolific, with numerous videos of her poetry performances online. After finishing the collection, I watched them all—from her 2014 United Nations Climate Summit performance of “Dear Matafele Peinam” to “Rise,” performed with Inuk poet, Aka Niviâna. I highly recommend them: www.kathyjetnilkijiner.com
Jetn̄il-Kijiner’s poems bring us to a crossroads of imagery and lived experience. We encounter intimate details: ziplocks stuffed with “rolls and rolls” of her young niece’s hair, lost to chemotherapy, and her attempt to communicate with her Būbū Neien on the couch, alongside oral storytelling traditions, the history of the US nuclear testing, rising oceans, and ancestral genealogies. The poems move fluidly between the everyday and the historical, the personal and the collective. I was particularly struck by her intentional use of form in spacing and fragmentation, which invites the reader to travel across islands and atolls of words and phrases, navigating the connective spaces of the wide open page. What she offers is a basket of poems that swell with gathering energy. Ultimately, the collection leaves the reader contemplating poetry’s power as a performed medium that is both inward and immersive, yet outward-facing and capable of generating change.
— Christina Wells (she/her) is a multi-genre writer from Northern Arm, NL. Her award-winning work has appeared in The New Quarterly, ROOM, Riddle Fence, Horseshoe Magazine, and The Newfoundland Quarterly. She is currently a PhD student at Memorial University and is co-managing editor of Paragon Magazine.
You can read Christina Wells' poetry in Issue 307 (Spring 2026). Order the issue now!
Order Issue 307 - Spring 2026 (Canadian Addresses)
Order Issue 307 - Spring 2026 (International Addresses)
