Mode of Program Participation
Performances and Arts
Participation Type
Performance
Presentation #1 Title
Palindrome: A reading of poems in exploration of my mother’s life
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Palindrome is a manuscript of poems written in response to my mother’s dementia. The story of two generations of Appalachian women in flux, Palindrome considers the mutability of memory and time and the shared loss of identity as the mother/daughter relationship alters in such a profound way. The reading will include poems I crafted from my mother’s handwritten memoir describing the final years of WW II both in eastern Kentucky and in Buffalo, New York, where she was sent by her community’s missionaries; my parents’ courtship at Southland Bible Institute; and her own reflections on her early years of motherhood.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Pauletta Hansel’s work has been featured in journals including Kudzu, Appalachian Journal, Appalachian Heritage and Still: The Journal, and on The Writer’s Almanac and American Life in Poetry. In 2016 she was named Cincinnati’s first Poet Laureate. Pauletta is author of five poetry collections, most recently Tangle (Dos Madres Press, 2015) and managing editor of Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, the literary publication of Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative.
Palindrome: A reading of poems in exploration of my mother’s life
Palindrome is a manuscript of poems written in response to my mother’s dementia. The story of two generations of Appalachian women in flux, Palindrome considers the mutability of memory and time and the shared loss of identity as the mother/daughter relationship alters in such a profound way. The reading will include poems I crafted from my mother’s handwritten memoir describing the final years of WW II both in eastern Kentucky and in Buffalo, New York, where she was sent by her community’s missionaries; my parents’ courtship at Southland Bible Institute; and her own reflections on her early years of motherhood.
