Three poems from my “sutures” series are featured in Rob McLennan’s Spotlight series today, along with a poetics re: erasures and trauma. Here’s an excerpt:
“Erasures can be a useful form for processing trauma because it can helps the writer externalize any traumatic events that come up, while also building towards a catharsis. They can help one excavate and uplight these traumatic experiences; they can help us shine a light on the dark. Erasures can also be less labor-intensive because the author is not singularly responsible for the poem that’s created. It is a collaboration between the author and the existing text. The creation of an erasure poem can happen organically, through a series of associations and connections that develop between the author and the page.”
A Poet Librarian 