I am the author of Calenture (University of Tampa Press, 2008). It's a book of poems, and it's trying to give a poetic account of devotion. When I was 17, I enlisted in the United States Navy. I was fresh out of high school, and I was irrationally in love with my country. I told people I was going to be President of the United States. In Boot Camp, I cried when I saw my shadow wearing its sailor cap and uniform. I sang the "Stars Bangled Banner" under my breath to keep time while we ran around the field house.
Why do things like that change? Calenture refers to a delirium suffered when you've been at sea, and you've seen nothing but ocean for too long. It's like a mirage, except what you see is a meadow instead of an oasis. And all you want to do is jump to dry land. So you jump into the ocean, and you drown. I never suffered calenture, but my feelings toward the Navy are a lot like it. What started so beautifully changed. And by the time I realized this, I was in the middle of a six-year enlistment.
I am currently living in Huntington, West Virginia. I work in the English Department at West Virginia State University as an Assistant Professor. Poems from my second manuscript, Gigantic, have appeared or are forthcoming in The Believer, Ploughshares, H.O.W. Journal, Pleiades and elsewhere.
You can reach me at: kentdshaw at gmail.com.
