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Sky Scorpion was written as a senior thesis project in Creative Writing at Hartwick College. It is a historical long poem that tells the story of my great-grandfather as he fought in WWII and his dream of becoming a writer, my grandmother's dream to write and remembering her father, and my own experience with going to college to study creative writing.
"At the surface, this is a historical and genealogical reflection on WWII, with my great-grandfather being the subject. However, underlying themes include trauma, childhood, illness, memory, and remembrance...Sky Scorpion has immense stakes, as it functions to explore and attempt to understand the role of memory in three distinct ways: a controlled attempt to erase memories as Alfred chooses not to speak about the war, an uncontrollable erasure of memory through the deterioration of a mind, and artificial memories made possible through learning about someone else's experiences."
Now available for purchase is Sky Scorpion, my first chapbook published by Dancing Girl Press.
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"Sky Scorpion is not simply a tribute to my family or a retelling of a WWII veteran. It captures the basics of being human, what memory means and how it serves us, the mundane details that make us us, a family lineage, writing, identity, and a glimpse into the history of America in all its ugly glory."
"When I was looking for men who were in the Air Force, I found an article about Jack Flynn, who grew up in the Bronx like my great-grandfather and was later taken as a prisoner of war. The first line of this poem is a direct quote from Jack when he's older and tells his children about the war: 'You never forget' (AR Gunners Magazine).
Throughout the piece, variations of those three words from Jack are strung together to show the everlasting impact of memory. The horrors of watching men die in the war is with veterans for life, the person that Alfred was to his daughter, Lorraine, is with her forever, and the importance of this poem is intended to stick with readers forever."
