Pearl Pirie reviews Hailey Higdon’s The State in Which (2013)

Pearl Pirie was good enough to discuss Hailey Higdon’s The State in Which (2013) in her “95books” project over at her blog. Thanks much! Although it is a bit disappointing to realize one of the pages got flipped (I’ll have to get her a replacement copy). This is actually the third review of Higdon’s chapbook, after Edric Mesmer discussed such over at Yellow Field, and Ryan Pratt discussed it over at the ottawa poetry newsletter.

211. The State in Which by Hailey Higdon (above/ground, 2013)

This was a project to write one poem per month. My copy of the chapbook was assembled wrong somehow so continuity was mussed in June and July. It was kind of diary and self-conscious of writing as writing. It fell in and out of focus. For example, the first half of December,

so many people are ok

with not being the best

versions of themselves

it was a million domestic

situations that made me

choose from one thing to the next

rebel, this is what I did

I stopped the idle, saying

yes, so much more often, so much more, storing up, collecting yeses,

risk, but the inverse

of take it and move on, I used to

keep repeating the same mistake–

quitting days, I know better now

The first three lines sound promising. Then its structured as stream of consciousness. Why not take the time to untangle. Part of it is the chaotic surge forward of life “I am looking for jobs, trying to locate the future perfect. How poinsettias arrive in the grocery story each year, looking so consistently identical, you can’t help staring.”