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ISASTER AND SURVIVAL ARE COMPANIONS WHICH DANCE THROUGH OUR LIVES , ON THE HISTORIC LEVEL AND THE PERSONAL , BUT ALWAYS INTERTWINED .
On July 6th , 1944 , Sandra Yannone ’ s father survived the infamous Hartford circus fire . Years later , her uncle missed his trip on the Andrea Doria , which would be destroyed in a catastrophic collision with another ocean liner . Even personally , the themes of disaster , saving , and survival have continued to follow her throughout her life .
These ideas permeate Sandy ’ s first book . She uses the narrative of experiences like her father ’ s survival of the circus fire , a poem about saving a boy from drowning , all the way up to larger stories like the Titanic to follow themes of silence , disaster , desire , and hope . In an excerpt from “ Boats for Women ,” a poem called “ Honors Biology ” talks about “ dripping ink onto glass slides to highlight disasters .”
Disaster , Survival , and Community in the Work of Sandra Yannone
By Melody Fyre
“ These events become specimens and we ’ re using the poem to magnify the nature of what it means to survive a disaster , whether it ’ s personal or otherwise .” She describes another poem , “ The Metabolic Ice Box ”, as an example to show the fusion she creates between the personal and the historic . “ These poems are usually fusing a personal relationship with the portrait of a disaster in the background . In this poem I ’ m telling the story of my father rescuing this boy from drowning while I ’ m also telling this story about trying to keep myself from drowning in a relationship . The poems often have that duality to them .”
The theme of saving that stretches through “ Boats for Women ” comes from the
28 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE