transformation from and the acquisition of physicality ?
I think the physical helps ground and edify complex feelings ( fear , grief ) and situations ( death , war ). There ’ s also this idea of permanence when it comes to the physical , right ? This sense of , If I can hold it , I can keep it . That ’ s why we mark our losses with physical objects : monuments , gravestones , etc . It ’ s our way of tying what was lost to the world we still experience and exist in . And in that way , we can hold onto and return to it . Those are similar ideas to what ’ s at work in these poems .
In “ Chimera ,” from which the title of your collection is taken , the poem shifts and changes with the possible interpretations of its name . I read it as a family poem , a piece about the possibility and impossibility of individuation , but it can be read as a love poem that explores the monstrous nature of passion — and those are only two possible ways to read this out of many . How do you choose to view this metaphor ?
It definitely deals with romantic love and , as you pointed out , the struggle and necessity of individuation . It could be considered a love poem to the self : a reflection on a toxic , consuming relationship and an acknowledgement of the growth that came from it .
How do you choose your metaphors or do they emerge as you write or revise ?
They usually come to me as I write . I tend to think literally and linearly , so metaphors are something I have to work at and then revise so they don ’ t feel forced .
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“ The Dead Walk Over Your Land ” is a favorite of mine . I read it as a haunting of myth , of family , or familial myth . At the end of the poem , you say , “ they are all with you ” – the myth , the flood , the animals , the things your grandmother told you , the weight of your mother at the foot of your bed – why must that be so ? Is home , by necessity , a ghost story ?
Oh , I like that idea a lot . The idea of “ home ” has been an elusive thing for me – I moved around a lot growing up , my parents ’ divorce meant going back and forth between different houses and parenting styles , and I ’ ve witnessed my dad ’ s feelings of displacement throughout my life . That ’ s a long way of saying , I think we ’ re all haunted by where we come from , but that ’ s not necessarily a bad thing .