news | Wednesday August 9, 2023

New Piece by Catriona Strang in periodicities

This week in periodicities’ #FirstRealPoet segment, Catriona Strang writes about her mother’s role in introducing her to poetry. Strang shares how being read to by her mother was integral to developing her philosophies about books and language.

From the article: “I experienced the sharing of books, of language, as a foundational caring act and one of the richest expressions of love, that deep well of parental love where I was fortunate enough to dwell in my youngest years; consequently, language is still awash with love for me, no matter how harsh, angry, or despairing.

To state this is not to idealize the mother-daughter relationship, nor the English language and its violences, for the contradictions both present are woven into the fabric of the linguistic connection my mother and I fostered, as they were into our relationship in general. Perhaps the most fruitful of these contradictions for me was a strong thread of resistance.”

Read the complete work here.