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#123 Backstory of the
Poem
“To Those Who Were Our
First Gods”
by Nickole Brown
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? The origin of this poem sprang from the Book of Judges, or more
specifically, my investigation into the violent, archetypical strong-man story
there that prompted reactions in me so swift that the poem—which is a letter
addressed to Samson himself—practically wrote itself. Like many, I hadn’t
really stepped into the darker corners of the Old Testament since I was a
little girl in Sunday school, but my wife, poet Jessica Jacobs, suggested I
revisit it. She had just read it as part of her study of Torah, and knowing how
much I’ve been invested in writing about animals these past three years, she
rightly thought the story would compel me.
At that time, I remembered only the
highlights of Samson’s story—mostly to do with his luxurious, superman-like
hair and its demise—and I had somehow forgotten (or blocked?) the details,
including the lion that he killed with his bare hands and all those poor foxes
he used as a kind of prehistoric weaponry, binding them together in pairs with
a lit torch before loosing them upon his enemy’s fields.
Feeding into this was
the fact I was volunteering at a nature center at the time, spending my
afternoons with two beloved donkeys who delighted me to no end, and of course,
Samson’s chief weapon was the jawbone of an ass. Now knowing the peaceful,
playful nature of donkeys, the irony was too much for me, and I knew I couldn’t
read those passages and be silent.
The toxic masculinity inherent in
this Bible story is, to me, a deeply ingrained and harmful part of our culture,
and the poem came to me in a rush of fury and sorrow. On one hand, I wrote it
in defense of the hundreds of animals tortured at the hands of this so-called
righteous man and those of the many so-called righteous men after him that
sacrifice countless non-human beings for our wars and our farm factories and
our experiments to this day.
Equally as important, I wrote this poem in an
attempt to push back the expectations we put on boys and men that make them
this way in the first place, the way that we not only give males permission to
do such harm but actively mock and punish them if they show weakness,
especially any sissy-boy, tree-hugging compassion for animals. Growing up in
the working-class Kentucky I did, I’ve seen this suffering firsthand time and
time again, and I don’t ever think I’ll stop grieving the tremendous damage
done to women, children, and animals by men raised in this culture. At the same
time, I have such pity for the men who were hammered into that grotesque shape
and were forced to stay that way.
What do you want readers of this poem to
take from this poem? What I hope
this poem does is to encourage readers to question the status quo, the ways in
which we accept things as “the way things are,” especially when these ways
impose harm on any living being, both human and not. Martin Luther King Jr. saw
the relevance between how we treat each other and how we treat animals, saying,
“One day the absurdity of the almost
universal human belief in the slavery of
other animals will be
palpable. We shall then have discovered our souls and become worthier of
sharing this planet with them.” It was this wisdom of his that fed this
poem and much of everything I write today, which is why I used this quote to
open my next collection of poems, a chapbook called The Donkey Elegies that
will be published early next year. Today, with our planet is in peril, at the
mercy of climate devastation and ecological extermination, and that day in
which Reverend King speaks has to be now. We have no other choice.
Has
this poem been published before? And if
so where?
Rattle December 11, 2018. Click on the link below to read “To Those Who
Were Our First Gods” in its entirety:
Poem also in the chapbook collection by the same title To Those Who Were Our First Gods by Rattle Foundation published January 1, 2018. To order To Those Who Were Our First Gods click on the link below:
Nickole Brown received her MFA from the Vermont
College, studied literature at Oxford University, and was the editorial
assistant for the late Hunter S. Thompson. She worked at Sarabande Books for
ten years.
Her first collection, Sister, a novel-in-poems, was first published in 2007 by Red Hen Press and a new edition was reissued by Sibling Rivalry Press in 2018.
Her second book, a biography-in-poems
called Fanny Says, came out from BOA Editions in 2015 and won
the Weatherford Award for Appalachian Poetry. The audio book of that collection
came out in 2017.
Her poems have, among other places, appeared in The New York Times, The Oxford American, Poetry International, Gulf Coast, and The Best American Poetry 2017. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, and the Kentucky Arts Council. She was an Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for four years until she gave up her beloved time in the classroom in hope of writing full time.
Currently, she is the Editor for the Marie
Alexander Poetry Series and teaches periodically at a number of places,
including the Sewanee School of Letters MFA Program, the Great Smokies Writing
Program at UNCA, Poets House, the Poetry Center at Smith College, the Palm
Beach Poetry Festival, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and the
Hindman Settlement School.
She lives with her wife, poet Jessica Jacobs, in
Asheville, North Carolina, where she volunteers at three different animal
sanctuaries. She’s at work on a bestiary of sorts about these animals, but she
doesn’t want it to consist of the kind of pastorals that always made her (and
most of the working-class folks she knows) feel shut out of nature and the
writing about it—she yearns for poems to speak in a queer,
Southern-trash-talking kind of way about nature beautiful, damaged, dangerous,
and in desperate need of saving. A chapbook of these poems called To
Those Who Were Our First Gods recently won the 2018 Rattle Chapbook
Prize, and another sequence called The Donkey Elegies will be
published as a chapbook by Sibling Rivalry Press in 2020.
Her first collection, Sister, a novel-in-poems, was first published in 2007 by Red Hen Press and a new edition was reissued by Sibling Rivalry Press in 2018.
Her poems have, among other places, appeared in The New York Times, The Oxford American, Poetry International, Gulf Coast, and The Best American Poetry 2017. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, and the Kentucky Arts Council. She was an Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for four years until she gave up her beloved time in the classroom in hope of writing full time.
Web Page
Facebook
Page
/nickole.brown
BACKSTORY OF THE POEM
LINKS
001 December 29, 2017
Margo
Berdeshevksy’s “12-24”
002 January 08, 2018
Alexis
Rhone Fancher’s “82 Miles From the Beach, We Order The Lobster At Clear Lake
Café”
003 January 12, 2018
Barbara
Crooker’s “Orange”
004 January 22, 2018
Sonia
Saikaley’s “Modern Matsushima”
005 January 29, 2018
Ellen
Foos’s “Side Yard”
006 February 03, 2018
Susan
Sundwall’s “The Ringmaster”
007 February 09, 2018
Leslea
Newman’s “That Night”
008 February 17, 2018
Alexis
Rhone Fancher “June Fairchild Isn’t Dead”
009 February 24, 2018
Charles
Clifford Brooks III “The Gift of the Year With Granny”
010 March 03, 2018
Scott
Thomas Outlar’s “The Natural Reflection of Your Palms”
011 March 10, 2018
Anya
Francesca Jenkins’s “After Diane Beatty’s Photograph “History Abandoned”
012 March 17, 2018
Angela
Narciso Torres’s “What I Learned This Week”
013 March 24, 2018
Jan
Steckel’s “Holiday On ICE”
014 March 31, 2018
Ibrahim
Honjo’s “Colors”
015 April 14, 2018
Marilyn
Kallett’s “Ode to Disappointment”
016 April 27, 2018
Beth
Copeland’s “Reliquary”
017 May 12, 2018
Marlon
L Fick’s “The Swallows of Barcelona”
018 May 25, 2018
Juliet
Cook’s “ARTERIAL DISCOMBOBULATION”
019 June 09, 2018
Alexis
Rhone Fancher’s “Stiletto Killer. . . A Surmise”
020 June 16, 2018
Charles
Rammelkamp’s “At Last I Can Start Suffering”
021 July 05, 2018
Marla
Shaw O’Neill’s “Wind Chimes”
022 July 13, 2018
Julia Gordon-Bramer’s
“Studying Ariel”
023 July 20, 2018
Bill Yarrow’s “Jesus
Zombie”
024 July 27, 2018
Telaina Eriksen’s “Brag
2016”
025 August 01, 2018
Seth Berg’s “It is only
Yourself that Bends – so Wake up!”
026 August 07, 2018
David Herrle’s “Devil In
the Details”
027 August 13, 2018
Gloria Mindock’s “Carmen
Polo, Lady Necklaces, 2017”
028 August 21, 2018
Connie Post’s “Two
Deaths”
029 August 30, 2018
Mary Harwell Sayler’s
“Faces in a Crowd”
030 September 16, 2018
Larry Jaffe’s “The
Risking Point”
031 September 24,
2018
Mark Lee Webb’s “After
We Drove”
032 October 04, 2018
Melissa Studdard’s
“Astral”
033 October 13, 2018
Robert Craven’s “I Have
A Bass Guitar Called Vanessa”
034 October 17, 2018
David Sullivan’s “Paper Mache
Peaches of Heaven”
035 October 23, 2018
Timothy Gager’s
“Sobriety”
036 October 30, 2018
Gary Glauber’s “The
Second Breakfast”
037 November 04, 2018
Heather Forbes-McKeon’s
“Melania’s Deaf Tone Jacket”
038 November 11, 2018
Andrena Zawinski’s
“Women of the Fields”
039 November 00, 2018
Gordon Hilger’s “Poe”
040 November 16, 2018
Rita Quillen’s “My
Children Question Me About Poetry” and “Deathbed Dreams”
041 November 20, 2018
Jonathan Kevin Rice’s
“Dog Sitting”
042 November 22, 2018
Haroldo Barbosa Filho’s
“Mountain”
043 November 27, 2018
Megan Merchant’s “Grief Flowers”
044 November 30, 2018
Jonathan P Taylor’s
“This poem is too neat”
045 December 03, 2018
Ian Haight’s “Sungmyo
for our Dead Father-in-Law”
046 December 06, 2018
Nancy Dafoe’s “Poem in
the Throat”
047 December 11, 2018
Jeffrey Pearson’s “Memorial
Day”
048 December 14, 2018
Frank Paino’s “Laika”
049 December 15, 2018
Jennifer Martelli’s
“Anniversary”
O50 December 19, 2018
Joseph Ross’s “For Gilberto Ramos, 15, Who Died in
the Texas Desert, June 2014”
051 December 23, 2018
“The Persistence of
Music”
by Anatoly Molotkov
052 December 27, 2018
“Under Surveillance”
by Michael Farry
053 December 28, 2018
“Grand Finale”
by Renuka Raghavan
054 December 29, 2018
“Aftermath”
by Gene Barry
055 January 2, 2019
“&”
by Larissa Shmailo
056 January 7, 2019
“The Seamstress:
by Len Kuntz
057 January 10, 2019
"Natural History"
by Camille T Dungy
058 January 11, 2019
“BLOCKADE”
by Brian Burmeister
059 January 12, 2019
“Lost”
by Clint Margrave
060 January 14, 2019
“Menopause”
by Pat Durmon
061 January 19, 2019
“Neptune’s Choir”
by Linda Imbler
062 January 22, 2019
“Views From the
Driveway”
by Amy Barone
063 January 25, 2019
“The heron leaves her
haunts in the marsh”
by Gail Wronsky
064 January 30, 2019
“Shiprock”
by Terry Lucas
065 February 02, 2019
“Summer 1970, The
University of Virginia Opens to Women in the Fall”
by Alarie Tennille
066 February 05, 2019
“At School They Learn
Nouns”
by Patrick Bizzaro
067 February 06, 2019
“I Must Not Breathe”
by Angela Jackson-Brown
068 February 11, 2019
“Lunch on City Island,
Early June”
by Christine Potter
069 February 12, 2019
“Singing”
by Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum
070 February 14, 2019
“Daily Commute”
by Christopher P. Locke
071 February 18, 2019
“How Silent The Trees”
by Wyn Cooper
072 February 20, 2019
“A New Psalm
of Montreal”
by Sheenagh Pugh
073 February 23, 2019
“Make Me A
Butterfly”
by Amy Barbera
074 February 26, 2019
“Anthem”
by Sandy Coomer
075 March 4, 2019
“Shape of a Violin”
by Kelly Powell
076 March 5, 2019
“Inward Oracle”
by J.P. Dancing Bear
077 March 7, 2019
“I Broke
My Bust Of Jesus”
by Susan Sundwall
078 March 9, 2019
“My Mother
at 19”
by John Guzlowski
079 March 10, 2019
“Paddling”
by Chera Hammons Miller
080 March 12, 2019
“Of Water
and Echo”
by Gillian Cummings
081 082
083 March 14, 2019
“Little
Political Sense” “Crossing Kansas with
Jim
Morrison” “The Land of Sky and Blue Waters”
by Dr. Lindsey
Martin-Bowen
084 March 15, 2019
“A Tune To
Remember”
by Anna Evans
085 March 19, 2019
“At the
End of Time (Wish You Were Here)
by Jeannine Hall Gailey
086 March 20, 2019
“Garden of
Gethsemane”
by Marletta Hemphill
087 March 21, 2019
“Letters
From a War”
by Chelsea Dingman
088 March 26, 2019
“HAT”
by Bob Heman
089 March 27, 2019
“Clay for
the Potter”
by Belinda Bourgeois
#090 March 30, 2019
“The Pose”
by John Hicks
#091 April 2, 2019
“Last
Night at the Wursthaus”
by Doug Holder
#092 April 4, 2019
“Original
Sin”
by Diane Lockward
#093 April 5, 2019
“A Father
Calls to his child on liveleak”
by Stephen Byrne
#094 April 8, 2019
“XX”
by Marc Zegans
#095 April 12, 2019
“Landscape
and Still Life”
by Marjorie Maddox
#096 April 16, 2019
“Strawberries
Have Been Growing Here for Hundreds of
Years”
by Mary Ellen Lough
#097 April 17, 2019
“The New
Science of Slippery Surfaces”
by Donna Spruijt-Metz
#098 April 19, 2019
“Tennessee
Epithalamium”
by Alyse Knorr
#099 April 20, 2019
“Mermaid,
1969”
by Tameca L. Coleman
#100 April 21, 2019
“How Do
You Know?”
by Stephanie
#101 April 23, 2019
“Rare Book
and Reader”
by Ned Balbo
#102 April 26, 2019
“THUNDER”
by Jefferson Carter
#103 May 01, 2019
“The sight
of a million angels”
by Jenneth Graser
#104 May 09, 2019
“How to
tell my dog I’m dying”
by Richard Fox
#105 May 17, 2019
“Promises
Had Been Made”
by Sarah Sarai
#106 June 01, 2019
“i sold
your car today”
by Pamela Twining
#107 June 02, 2019
“Abandoned
Stable”
by Nancy Susanna Breen
#108 June 05, 2019
“Cupcake”
by Julene Tripp Weaver
#109 June 6, 2019
“Bobby’s
Story”
by Jimmy Pappas
#110 June 10, 2019
“When You
Ask Me to Tell You About My Father”
by Pauletta Hansel
#111 Backstory of the
Poem’s
“Cemetery
Mailbox”
by Jennifer Horne
#112 Backstory of the Poem’s
“Relics”
by Kate Peper
#113 Backstory of the
Poem’s
“Q”
by Jennifer Johnson
#114 Backstory of the
Poem’s
“Brushing My Hair”
by Tammika Dorsey Jones
#115 Backstory of the
Poem
“Because the Birds Will
Survive, Too”
by Katherine Riegel
#116 Backstory of the Poem
“DIVORCE”
“DIVORCE”
by Joan Barasovska
#117 Backstory of the
Poem
“NEW
YEAR”S EVE 2016”
by Michael Meyerhofer
#118 Backstory of the
Poem
“Dear the
estranged,”
by Gina Tron
#119 Backstory of the Poem
“In
Remembrance of Them”
by Janet Renee Cryer
#120 Backstory of the
Poem
“Horse Fly
Grade Card, Doesn’t Play Well With Others”
by David L. Harrison
#121 Backstory of the
Poem
“My
Mother’s Cookbook”
by Rachael Ikins
#122 Backstory of the
Poem
“Cousins I
Never Met”
by Maureen Kadish
Sherbondy
#123 Backstory of the
Poem
“To Those Who Were Our
First Gods”
by Nickole Brown
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