Be the thing of memory

Author: Carrie Olivia Adams

Publisher: Tolsun Books (2021)

Drawing on found text from a variety of historical sources, Be the thing of memory is composed of four long poems built from erasures, specifically from the autobiography of Sophia Tolstoy, a mid-century girl scout handbook, an auditory testing guide, and writings on or by Sarah Hackett Stevenson and Alice Magaw, two of the earliest women in medicine in the United States. Part archivist, part architect, Carrie Olivia Adams excavates the stories of women—famous, forgotten, and ordinary—from history and enters into dialogue with them, giving voice to the continuity of experience and humanity that is our shared foundation. The poems move from feral fields to a dark trail in the woods to the fire of the mind while the weight of tiny things converges with the weight of story itself. Uncertainty. Disbelief. Resilience. Tell me What do you hear And with what ear do you hear it?