About the Poems - AEE
About the Poems
by Anna Elena Eyre This series/chapbook is written in response to William Carlos Williams’ "Kora in Hell." They are written in attempt to other the self as projected in language and are based on dream work. Inspired by Williams' prose interpretations of his poems, I interpreted the poems I wrote when I first awoke before I would go to sleep. Thus, the poems are largely writ on the cusp of consciousness. When awaking I would delve into the dream and when clouded would write analytically. All efforts, again, are in attempt to other the self as language via language. This stems from a reading of Derrida's "animot" or wordanimal as a potential for a mirrored or reciprocal alterity that allows for a construction of self that is able to address—to ad (Latin ‘to near’) or a (Greek ‘without/not’) dress (direct, solidify). The series also directly grapples with the sexism of Williams that is heavily present and laden throughout "Kora & Hell." The running together of words has to do with the way in which I read, the instability of language and a desire not to fix terms definitive.