#54 Backstory of the Poem "Aftermath" by Gene Barry

Chris Rice Cooper 

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***This is the fifty-forth in a never-ending series called BACKSTORY OF THE POEM where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses on one specific poem and how the poet wrote that specific poem.  All BACKSTORY OF THE POEM links are at the end of this piece. 

Title Photo Below:  Gene Barry doing a poetry reading in Amsterdam in 2014.  Copyright permission granted by Gene Barry for this CRC Blog Post Only 

#54 Backstory of the Poem

“Aftermath”

by Gene Barry

Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form?   My mother rejected me the moment I was born and demonstrated her hatred for me as frequently as she could. This cult-like style of brainwashing in turn programmed my siblings to also reject and hate me. In my post anaesthetic haze, I received flashbacks of the numerous times friends had told me that they had never seen such hatred as the hatred my mother had for me.

Despite the fact that I had stepped out of the family scapegoat role my mother had welded to me, my present vulnerable state enabled the true depth of this elective cruelly to score a bullseye. Both consciously and unconsciously, I began to marry my thought processes and emotions tagged to this cruelty and this poem began to assemble itself, giving birth a few days later. When I got home I typed up draft number one and began editing. Below:  "Love" by Alexander Milov. FUSUTUSCRL

Where were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the place in great detail.   The inspiration for this poem infused itself into my marrow while I was lying in my hospital bed recovering from surgery for cancer. (Right) The awareness that I had three brothers and three sisters who were not going to contact me, or even enquire about my health had finally driven the awareness of my family status to a new reality.

What month and year did you start writing this poem?   Three days after my surgery in June 2016

How many drafts of this poem did you write before going to the final? (And can you share a photograph of your rough drafts with pen markings on it?)   I tend to write in my head before I type. Fortunately, I can run a poem in my head for months or even years until the moment it goes into labour and delivers itself. The finished poem is not related in any way to the initial draft, primarily because I decided to use a metaphor coupled with the enormous amount of editing. My emotions played a major part in the assembly of it. (Left:  Barry at age 19. Copyright permission granted by Gene Barry for this CRC Blog Post Only)

Were there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the final version? And can you share them with us?    There were numerous lines in this poem that I edited in my head, this stanza was edited into the one below it.

My narrow-minded mother

Cupped in by obedient children

Viewed ugly as interesting

The only silence emotional cruelty

Wounds the visions she applauds

Our narrow grass-centred road
Dressed in mountain ranges
Has become ugly and uninteresting
Mute birds and silent hedgerows

There is a wound in every vision

What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem?   That it is a poem of healing and survival. We don’t have to change, we have to remove the changes and return to ourselves. That a hug enhances safety and wellbeing and never to concentrate on giving a hug. The emotional awareness should be focussed on the gift you are receiving and what it can do for you.

Which part of the poem was the most emotional for you to write and why?   The second stanza. Although I have an abundance of compassion for my mother and indeed my siblings, I have no awareness of what happened to my mother when she was a child that saw her reject happiness and encase herself in bitterness. This blind spot disabled me from assising her in disposing of her enormous pain.

Has this poem been published before? And if so where?   Aftermath has not been published.  It will be in my fourth collection Flaking the Rope which will be published in the US in January 2019.

Anything you would like to add?   ‘What you are aware of, you are in control of. What you are unaware of controls you.’

Aftermath

I sit stand lie walk
Bend carefully and slowly
The breast I need to suck
Within reach and yet too far

I starve for explanations as

My tears pull childhood wounds
Deliver those unappreciated images
That cycle past on three wheelers
The cyclist's tongues saluting

Our narrow grass-centred road
Dressed in mountain ranges
Has become ugly and uninteresting
Mute birds and silent hedgerows

There is a wound in every vision

Logic is a popular school teacher
The perfect stocked exchange
Correct and right without answers
Reason is unpopular and unedited

And yet...a hug is a thesaurus 
That blankets every wound

Gene Barry is an Irish Poet, Art Therapist, Counsellor, Hypnotherapist and Psychotherapist. He has published widely both at home and internationally and his poems have been translated into Arabic, Irish, Hindi, Albanian, and Italian. (Left:  Barry in Malta on December 28, 2018.  Copyright permission granted by Gene Barry for this CRC Blog Post Only)

Barry is a founder of the Blackwater Poetry group and administers the world-famous Blackwater Poetry Group on Facebook.  He is a publisher and editor with the publishing house Rebel Poetry.  Barry is also founder and chairman of the Blackwater International Poetry Festival. 

As an art therapist using the medium of poetry, Barry has worked in libraries, hospitals, primary and secondary schools, with Narcotics anonymous, Youthreach, retired people's groups, Alcoholics Anonymous, asylum seekers, and with numerous poetry groups.

Barry has read in Australia, Holland, Kosovo, England, St. Lucia, Scotland, France, Belgium, and Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, New York, and Massachusetts.  He has been the guest poet at numerous Irish poetry venues.  In 2015 he was chosen to represent Ireland at the inaugural Rahovec International Poetry Festival in Kosovo.  (Right:  Barry doing a poetry reading in Jonesboro, Arkansas.  Copyright permission granted by Gene Barry for this CRC Blog Post Only) 

Barry's chapbook Stones in their Shoes was published in 2008.  In 2010 Barry was editor of the anthology Silent Voices, a collection of poems written by asylum seekers living in Ireland.  He additionally edited the 2012, 2013, and 2014 editions of The Blue Max Review and Inclusion as part of the Blackwater International Poetry Festival.  (Left:  Barry as a child on the far right jacket cover.)

In 2013 his collection Unfinished Business was published by Doghouse Books, a collection that has been critically acclaimed.  In 2014 he edited Irish poet Michael Corrigan's debut Deep Fried Unicorn, and the anthology fathers and what must be said.  In 2015 Barry edited The Day the Mirror Called and MH Clay's book son of fred. 

His third collection Working Days was published by Authors Press in 2016 and his fourth collection, Flaking the Rope will be published in the United States in January of 2019.

Barry has had a number of short stories published and is presently editing his first novel.

genebarrypoet@mail.com

BACKSTORY OF THE POEM LINKS

001  December 29, 2017

Margo Berdeshevksy’s “12-24”

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-new-crc-blog-series-backstory-of-poem.html

002  January 08, 2018

Alexis Rhone Fancher’s “82 Miles From the Beach, We Order The Lobster At Clear Lake Café”

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-new-crc-blog-series-backstory-of-poem.html

003 January 12, 2018

Barbara Crooker’s “Orange”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-new-crc-blog-series-backstory-of-poem_12.html

004 January 22, 2018

Sonia Saikaley’s “Modern Matsushima”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-fourth-installment-of-new-crc-blog.html

005 January 29, 2018

Ellen Foos’s “Side Yard”

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/01/5-backstory-of-poem-sidewalk-by-ellen.html

006 February 03, 2018

Susan Sundwall’s “The Ringmaster”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/02/6-backstory-of-poem-susan-sundwalls.html

007 February 09, 2018

Leslea Newman’s “That Night”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/02/7-backstory-of-poem-that-night-by.html

008 February 17, 2018

Alexis Rhone Fancher “June Fairchild Isn’t Dead”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/02/8-backstory-of-poem-june-fairchild-isnt.html

009 February 24, 2018

Charles Clifford Brooks III “The Gift of the Year With Granny”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/02/9-backstory-of-poem-gift-of-year-with.html

010 March 03, 2018

Scott Thomas Outlar’s “The Natural Reflection of Your Palms”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/03/chris-ricecooper-caccoopaol.html

011 March 10, 2018

Anya Francesca Jenkins’s “After Diane Beatty’s Photograph “History Abandoned”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/03/11-backstory-of-poem-after-diane.html

012  March 17, 2018

Angela Narciso Torres’s “What I Learned This Week”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/03/12-backstory-of-poem-series-angela.html

013 March 24, 2018

Jan Steckel’s “Holiday On ICE”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/03/13-backstory-of-poem-jan-steckels.html

014 March 31, 2018

Ibrahim Honjo’s “Colors”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/03/14-backstory-of-poem-ibrahim-honjos.html

015 April 14, 2018

Marilyn Kallett’s “Ode to Disappointment”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/04/15-backstory-of-poem-ode-to_14.html

016  April 27, 2018

Beth Copeland’s “Reliquary”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/04/16-backstory-of-poem-reliquary-by-beth.html

017  May 12, 2018

Marlon L Fick’s “The Swallows of Barcelona”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/05/17-backstory-of-poem-swallows-of.html

018  May 25, 2018

Juliet Cook’s “ARTERIAL DISCOMBOBULATION”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/05/18-backstory-of-poem-arterial.html

019  June 09, 2018

Alexis Rhone Fancher’s “Stiletto Killer. . . A Surmise”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/06/19-backstory-of-poem-stiletto-killer.html

020 June 16, 2018

Charles Rammelkamp’s “At Last I Can Start Suffering”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/06/20-backstory-of-poem-at-least-i-can.html

021  July 05, 2018

Marla Shaw O’Neill’s “Wind Chimes”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/07/21-backstory-of-poem-wind-chimes-by.html

022 July 13, 2018

Julia Gordon-Bramer’s “Studying Ariel”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/07/22-backstory-of-poem-studying-ariel-by.html

023 July 20, 2018

Bill Yarrow’s “Jesus Zombie”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/07/23-backstory-of-poem-jesus-zombie-by.html

024  July 27, 2018

Telaina Eriksen’s “Brag 2016”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/07/24-backstory-of-poem-brag-2016-by.html

025  August 01, 2018

Seth Berg’s “It is only Yourself that Bends – so Wake up!”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/08/25-backstory-of-poem-it-is-only.html

026  August 07, 2018

David Herrle’s “Devil In the Details”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/08/26-backstory-of-poem-devil-in-details.html

027  August 13, 2018

Gloria Mindock’s “Carmen Polo, Lady Necklaces, 2017”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/08/27-backstory-of-poem-carmen-polo-lady.html

028  August 21, 2018

Connie Post’s “Two Deaths”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/08/28-backstory-of-poem-two-deaths-by.html

029  August 30, 2018

Mary Harwell Sayler’s “Faces in a Crowd”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/08/29-backstory-of-poem-faces-in-crowd-by.html

030 September 16, 2018

Larry Jaffe’s “The Risking Point”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/09/30-backstory-of-poem-risking-point-by.html

031  September 24, 2018

Mark Lee Webb’s “After We Drove”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/09/31-backstory-of-poem-after-we-drove-by.html

032  October 04, 2018

Melissa Studdard’s “Astral”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/10/32-backstory-of-poem-astral-by-melissa.html

033 October 13, 2018

Robert Craven’s “I Have A Bass Guitar Called Vanessa”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/10/33-backstory-of-poem-i-have-bass-guitar.html

034  October 17, 2018

David Sullivan’s “Paper Mache Peaches of Heaven”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/10/34-backstory-of-poem-paper-mache.html

035 October 23, 2018

Timothy Gager’s “Sobriety”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/10/35-backstory-of-poem-sobriety-by.html

036  October 30, 2018

Gary Glauber’s “The Second Breakfast”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/10/36-backstory-of-poem-second-breakfast.html

037  November 04, 2018

Heather Forbes-McKeon’s “Melania’s Deaf Tone Jacket”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/37-backstory-of-poem-melanias-deaf-tone.html

038 November 11, 2018

Andrena Zawinski’s “Women of the Fields”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/38-backstory-of-poem-women-of-fields-by.html

039  November 00, 2018

Gordon Hilger’s “Poe”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/39-backstory-of-poem-poe-by-gordon.html

040 November 16, 2018

Rita Quillen’s “My Children Question Me About Poetry” and “Deathbed Dreams”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/40-backstory-of-poems-my-children.html

041 November 20, 2018

Jonathan Kevin Rice’s “Dog Sitting”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/41-backstory-of-poem-dog-sitting-by.html

042 November 22, 2018

Haroldo Barbosa Filho’s “Mountain”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/42-backstory-of-poem-mountain-by.html

043  November 27, 2018

Megan Merchant’s “Grief Flowers”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/43-backstory-of-poem-grief-flowers-by.html

044 November 30, 2018

Jonathan P Taylor’s “This poem is too neat”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/44-backstory-of-poem-poem-is-too-neat.html

045  December 03, 2018

Ian Haight’s “Sungmyo for our Dead Father-in-Law”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/045-backstory-of-poem-sungmyo-for-our.html

046 December 06, 2018

Nancy Dafoe’s “Poem in the Throat”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/046-backstory-of-poem-poem-registering.html

047 December 11, 2018

Jeffrey Pearson’s “Memorial Day”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/47-backstory-of-poem-memorial-day-by.html

048  December 14, 2018

Frank Paino’s “Laika”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/48-backstory-of-poem-laika-by-frank.html

049  December 15, 2018

Jennifer Martelli’s “Anniversary”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/49-backstory-of-poem-anniversary-by.html

O50  December 19, 2018

Joseph Ross’s “For Gilberto Ramos, 15, Who Died in the Texas Desert, June 2014”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/50-backstory-of-poem-for-gilberto-ramos.html

051 December 23, 2018

“The Persistence of Music”

by Anatoly Molotkov

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/51-backstory-of-poem-persistence-of.html

052  December 27, 2018

“Under Surveillance”

by Michael Farry

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/52-backstory-of-poem-under-surveillance.html

053  December 28, 2018

“Grand Finale”

by Renuka Raghavan

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/53-backstory-of-poem-grand-finale-by.html

054  December 29, 2018

“Aftermath”

by Gene Barry

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/54-backstory-of-poem-aftermath-by-gene.html