HOLY WATER CAR WASH (and other poems)

Abstract

HOLY WATER CAR WASH (and other poems) is a poetry collection relying on themes of mythology, mothers, and modern witchcraft. It heavily features female characters from mythology and literature, such as Medusa, Pandora, and Medea, giving voices to the women from those tales who were unable to speak for themselves. Some poems from this series allow these characters to speak directly to the reader from their own time, others place them in more contemporary settings. In one, we see Medusa at an awkward dinner party. In another, Medea exists as one of the “merry murderesses” of Chicago in the 1920s. But this collection expands even beyond these women’s stories, highlighting the everyday magics some women create: mothers using their intuition as an oracle would, daughters conjuring faces with makeup, communities creating people from thin air and stories. The poems in this collection trail through ancient Greece, but also back roads, family kitchens, and even, yes, the Holy Water Car Wash on N. Main Street in Zwolle, LA.