UCLA Journal of Radiation Oncology SPRING 2024 - Flipbook - Page 21
UCLA RADIATION ONCOLOGY JOURNAL
says, “That comes from my non-fiction work...our
job is simply to observe. I may drift into fairytale or
speculation, but trust what people say. Someone’s
inner life is sacred, and it’s up to them to reveal
what they want to reveal.”
And so, I leave you with “Unbroken,” his unpacking
of the metaphor of a horse as the past, a horse/
the past as broken. Flynn shared a story from the
Dodge Festival a few years ago: “It’s one of the
pleasures one has as a poet. You get to imagine a
collective unconscious. Whether it exists or not, I’m
sure is up for debate, but as far as I’m concerned
there it is in how poems speak to each other across
centuries.” He goes on to recollect a quote from
Brenda Hillman, “(Her hands tracking down her
body as she spoke.) ‘A poem starts in a seemingly
autobiographical,’ (her hands around her head)
‘and as you keep working on it, it transforms to
the universal,’ (her hands went moving down her
torso) ‘but in order for it to become a poem, it has
to cross the threshold into the mystery,’ (her hands
now at her hips). She was tracking her body into the
whole experience. The process of writing a poem is
a journey into a deeper mystery. That’s what I look
for in art, that mystery.”
The human connection is evident from page one,
experiences as universal, nothing as precious...
and yet, all as worthy of experiencing. This 100+
page book of poems may seem long, but there is no
poem that should have been cut. There isn’t a single
poem that isn’t vital to Low. ☐
For more information on Nick Flynn, his books,
and his collages, please visit https://nickflynn.org
Contributed by: Ciara Shuttleworth
Ciara Shuttleworth is an alumnus of the prestigious San Francisco
Art Institute. She has worked for three prominent San Francisco fine
art galleries. Additionally, she has provided art consulting for private
and corporate collections, including Google. She is also a published
writer with works in the Norton Introduction to Literature and The
New Yorker. Her most recent book is the poetry collection, Rabbit
Heart.
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