My new chapbook, trauma suture, uses erasure to excavate small truths & reconstruct identity. I created these poems while participating in 30/30s in a group called The Poeming, created by E.K. Anderson. I work with two texts; Indexing by Seanan McGuire, and Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. Most of the erasure or remixed poems were created using a single page of the text. I’m grateful to Rob McLennan for publishing it with above/ground press!
I write this in the pouring rain, grateful for the temporary wash of virus from air. Petrichor comforting me on this day maintaining distance.
5 sutures await
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.”
Four of my Anne Rice erasures were published in FIVE 2 ONE: An Art and Literary Journal’s #thesideshow yesterday. There’s audio too if you want to hear my weirdo voice. Thanks for listening…
mirabeau bridge
A Poet Librarian 