About the Poems - AG
About the Poems
by Arielle Greenberg These poems/mini-essays are part of a long series which is currently a manuscript called Locally Made Panties. The impetus for the series—which is somewhat more flat in its affect and about topics I think are considered pretty lightweight and anti-poetic, such as shopping—was to address the things which are genuinely taboo for me to write about. I am always telling my students to write about what really scares them, what they are afraid to tackle, and the truth is that for me, writing about my family or death or anxiety or heavy stuff like that is what I've done all my life (and is the stuff in my last two manuscripts), so that doesn't really get under my skin. What feels truly subversive to me at this point in my life is to write about the ways in which I am shallow, callous, materialistic, etc.—who wants to admit that stuff? So that was what I set out to write about. And hopefully it's fun for the reader.