Artist Statement:
I consider my work intimate, as if I am whispering secrets into a reader’s ear. Much of my work has a confessional tone. In person, I am a horrible liar; I give myself away by giggling or looking guilty. On paper, however, in fiction and poetry I can confess and lie simultaneously and in the same breath. I can mask the truth in invented circumstances or behind a form, line break or the smallest pause for breath.. “Something like that” comes from a conversation I had with someone I just met at a party. I have no idea why she began talking to me but her words stuck with me for days, long enough for me to write a response through a poem. “laurel” was written on bar tabs and napkins one night as my friends teased me about “always writing.” I have a chaotic writing process. So, I write many poems about writing, or about poetry itself. As you can see in “laurel” I mention that the poem is being composed on bar tabs. “to say something about nothing” is also about the process of composing, though it begins with waking from a nap. I often dream first lines that never go anywhere but sometimes, in a poem like this one, I follow it to the end. In some ways all three of the poems are about things unsaid, which if you know me makes perfect sense. After all, I told you I was a liar.
I woke from a nap
too late
after dreaming
of Peru.
(I think it was)
with its Lima
capital,
always mispronounced
and associated with
green vegetables
not even grown there
which isn’t to say
they couldn’t be
or shouldn’t be
or anything of the sort
and this took off from
my sleep eyes
and groggy mouth.
I’ve forgotten
to feed mr. red fish
or answer mother’s question
and I’d like to know
what happened with
this poem.
I suppose (sometimes)
it’s what you don’t say
| Euphemism Campus Box 4240 Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790-4240 |