Still Life of a Girl Gathering Membrillos

Still Life of a Girl Gathering Membrillos is a poetry collection in which the speaker (myself) reflects on childhood and intergenerational trauma, as well as the fragmentation of memories over the passage of time and through historical and cultural contexts. The reader becomes a witness to life-altering moments of sexual assault, imposed cultural and religious beliefs, familial dysfunction, and chronic illness. The effects of these experiences are both internalized and externalized in adulthood, confronted by the speaker through writing and art. The speaker is thinking in retrospection, reflecting on pivotal moments of youth stitched together through dreamlike instances or unreliable memories which she struggles to cope with. The poems carry a self-awareness that addresses the nuance of language and the difficulty of confronting trauma through language and poetry.