“Not Exactly Genesis,” ‘Stories Don’t Always Land Straight,” and “Trace Fossils” by Claire Scott appeared in Issue 31 and can be read here.
We’d love to hear more about these poems.
I find it fun to reimagine myths and Bible stories like in “Not Exactly Genesis.” The poor snake is usually demonized, so I played with the role of the snake. And Adam usually gets to be the hero of the story. “Stories Don’t Always Stand Straight” and “Trace Fossils” are poems about memory, which fascinates me. Memory is so fluid and we create and recreate our memories each time we revisit them. The gaps in memory protect us until when and if we can assimilate them. “Trace Fossils” deals with what kinds of memories we leave behind at our death, pale echoes of the living person. I found the concept poignant.
What was the most difficult in writing this set?
I loved the term “Trace Fossils” and wanted to see what I could do with it. It was hard to imagine the death of my partner while at the same time avoiding melodrama or clichés. I tried to stick with facts, letting the reader fill in the feelings. I hope it worked!
Recommend a book for us which was published within the last decade.
I just finished The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson about CRISPR technology. I think gene editing presents many ethical issues which this book addresses beautifully. Plus I am a science geek and wanted to understand the biological process. I was blown away by the brilliance of Jennifer Doudna who won a 2020 Nobel Prize. This book is wonderfully relevant to our current pandemic, discussing how we might be able to control future viruses by altering bits of DNA.
If you could have a drink with any living author who would it be and why?
I so enjoyed Underland by Robert Macfarlane. Another science book! I found many of the terms he introduced me to were an inspiration for poems. He has an amazing sense of adventure and traveled all over the world to research this book. He also writes beautifully and thoughtfully about the earth’s underworld. I would love to learn more about him and his background.
What are you working on now? What’s next?
I am taking an online class with Ellen Bass which is intense and wonderful. I am doing her suggested exercises with a greater or lesser degree of success, but always learning. I think I am in a transition in my writing, not sure where it will go next. Of course that is the fun (and anxiety) of it all!
Our thanks to Claire for taking the time to answer a few questions and share these poems. Read “Not Exactly Genesis,” ‘Stories Don’t Always Land Straight,” and “Trace Fossils” here: https://www.sequestrum.org/three-poems-by-claire-scott-2.
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Claire Scott is an award-winning poet who has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her work has appeared in the Atlanta Review, Bellevue Literary Review, New Ohio Review, Enizagam and Healing Muse among others. Claire is the author of Waiting to be Called and Until I Couldn’t. She is the co-author of Unfolding in Light: A Sisters’ Journey in Photography and Poetry.