Saturday, October 12, 2019

#131 Backstory of the Poem "Baby Jacob survives the Oso Landslide, 2014" by Amie Zimmerman



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***This is #131 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. 

#131 Backstory of the Poem
“Baby Jacob survives the Oso Landslide, 2014”
by Amie Zimmerman
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? In the fall of 2016, I was taking classes at my community college, slowly accumulating the credits I would need to finish my degree. I’d always loved the basics of geology I’d encountered elsewhere, so when I saw this disasters-based class, I signed up immediately. It may be slightly morbid, but I am fascinated with natural disasters and their consequences. This particular class focused on earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and landslides, and the causes/conditions wherein they occur.

     Also of note is that I live in Portland, Oregon, very close to the Juan de Fuca Faultline, and it’s general knowledge we are about 20 years overdue for the next big earthquake. Historical documentation and geological evidence suggest we’ve had a megathrust earthquake every 300 years, and the last one was in 1700. This has created a sense of urgency in the preparedness communities in the Pacific Northwest, a heightened set of stakes for us personally.  
     Studying each of these forms of natural disasters and the science behind their occurrences created a lens through which I began to calculate how we approach the concept of personal disaster. In what ways are we vulnerable? What, if any, are the social conditions that create risk for people? Are there measurable predictors? Generally, one could say events like earthquakes cut through class, race, and gender, affecting those in the “wrong place” at the “wrong time.” However, that doesn’t really address what we know is true: the ones most vulnerable are always those who live in conditions created by disparate wealth. The difference we see in the material consequences of the earthquake in Christchurch versus the one in Port-au-Prince is stark and obvious.
Coming from a working-class-white-poor background myself, a story about a toddler who survived a major landslide in Washington in 2014 really struck me. The area is rural and the people who lived there were not wealthy. It had been raining and the ground broke loose from the hillside, burying 43 people in a matter of seconds. You can’t be prepared for something like that, you just have to not be in the way. Part of what geologists are hoping to discover are more concrete predictors and ways of using them to make safe living conditions. Of course, I consider wealth disparity to be a concrete predictor. And in this case, logging had played a role in soil erosion in the area.

Where were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the place in great detail. I wrote this in class, instead of taking notes on the video we were watching of the immediate aftermath of the Oso Landslide. I almost always write on my laptop, so the circumstances of the writing weren’t outside the norm. I also often write in class, for better or worse, because learning new theory always creates urgency for me.
My body felt tight and I had to use effort not to cry while we were watching the rescue footage. The poem’s lines were always very short, they came out that way—restrained by my desire to create focus on the specific moment. In the course of reading the poem, one can imagine how much damage could be done by a wall of mud crashing down a hillside over these single-family homes, some of them trailers. When Jacob (the toddler) was rescued by helicopter, it was very emotional. I believe I used the phrase “noticeable wriggling” directly from one of the workers’ descriptions of how it was they could see Jacob on top of a hill of debris, surrounded by a lake of mud.
As hokey as it may sound, my sense of the consequences of systemic poverty and its direct ties to depression—the cycle that creates—were the conceptual basis for the metaphor of the poem. I wanted to remain as close to the actual events of the landslide for the surface of the poem, in an attempt to respect the material and the humans whose story I was working with. But underlying that was an urge to connect the visual of this “unpredictable” event and the fact that in this country, economic disparity is devastating, systemic, and utterly trackable if we have the desire to see it. If these geologists are seeking answers for how to enact better infrastructure through material decisions which could help save lives, one component must be to address how our society chooses to distribute wealth.

What month and year did you start writing this poem? December 2016

How many drafts of this poem did you write before going to the final?  I’d estimate it went through at least five drafts prior to the final. I don’t work on paper much anymore and always do my editing within the same file, so I don’t have a record of the phases.
Were there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the final version?  Most of my edits were an attempt to find the right word with the right amount of syllables and mouth feel. It was a series of very tiny substitutions, waiting a few hours or sometimes days before returning and reading the phrase to make sure I’d chosen the right one. Word by word. A couple of examples are that I decided to use “fractured” instead of “separate” and deleted the word “too” before “late” in the last line.

What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? Economic disparity is not an act of God.

Which part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why? One of the survivors was a mother who had grabbed her baby and wrapped herself around him when the mud crashed into her home. She and her baby survived but were found several hundred feet from the site of her home, buried in the cushion pocket of an upturned couch. When I think of the terror of that moment, and the desperation it took to hold onto her child while getting swept away, bones broken by the debris, I get emotional still.

Has this poem been published before? And if so where? No.

Anything you would like to add? The Seattle Times (
https://www.seattletimes.com/) won some awards with their coverage of the event, the aftermath, and the geologist’s findings. That would be a good place to start to read about it all.

Baby Jacob survives the Oso Landslide, 2014

We are
all
walking open
wounds,
Jacob

Couches
that have
eaten
mothers
whole

Neighbors
that sank
recession
deep

The right
amount
of duplicitous
silt

It’s our
noticeable
wriggling,
Jacob

Faces
lifted, propeller
arms
toward
bladed noise

We wait
on each
fractured island

And in
the following
hours
help arrives
systematic
and frugally
late

     Amie Zimmerman lives in Portland, Oregon, with her teenage son. Her work has been published in Sixth Finch, DIAGRAM, West Branch, Salt Hill, Third Coast, and Puerto del Sol, among others. She has two chapbooks, Oyster (REALITY BEACH) and Compliance (Essay Press), and is an editor for YesYes Books. She can be found at https://www.amiezimmerman.site/




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”
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

#124 Backstory of the Poem
“Looking For Sunsets (In the Early Morning)”
by Paul Levinson

#125 Backstory of the Poem
“Tracy”
by Tiff Holland

#126 Backstory of the Poem
“Legs”
by Cindy Hochman

#127 Backstory of the Poem
“Anathema”
by Natasha Saje

#128 Backstory of the Poem
“How to Explain Fertility When an Acquaintance Asks Casually”
by Allison Blevins

#129 Backstory of the Poem
“The Art of Meditation In Tennessee”
by Linda Parsons

#130 Backstory of the Poem
“Schooling High, In Beslan”
by Satabdi Saha

#131 Backstory of the Poem
“Baby Jacob survives the Oso Landslide, 2014”