• Writing with Trauma
• Hilary Sideris (bio)

In A Common Violence, the poet Pat Falk entertains the possibility of finding peace, or even momentary solace, in a world ravaged by violence. Falk's narrator cannot avert her gaze from televised tragedies happening in faraway countries. Even in the relative calm of suburbia, she cannot admire birds without being struck by their cruelty. Violence comes from within as well, as the poems move from the horrors of current events to familial pain and trauma passed down through acts of aggression, both physical and spiritual—scary stories and admonitions barely understood—and rejected—by the narrator, who survives but absorbs the darkness nonetheless.

Falk's stark, graphic, question-poems speak directly to us, to the self, and to God, if the poet believed in one. In "Regarding the Pain of Others," after Susan Sontag's book by that title, the narrator contemplates a newspaper article about an earthquake and its aftermath in a poor country where thousands of survivors—and one girl in particular—live in tent cities:

a young girl pulled from the rubble hadn't died from impactjust her nails were missing she must have scratched them offtrying to get out

These poems are perhaps darkest when Falk's naturalistic images bear the effects of violence—the lab rabbits with eyelids "stitched open" to "test effects of toxic bleach" from "Three Bits," and the swarm of birds squabbling over "something long and furry," whose small legs dangle "like those of a dog" from a seagull's beak:

in the seagull's eyemalevolencethe arrogance of a master race

other gulls and geese—jealous or enraged—pursuing from behind

Human or animal, it seems we are enraged by nature. In "Barometric," low pressure before a storm sends the narrator reeling:

with knowledge of impending violence

carried through a synapsedown the spineinto hollow open pockets

the soul goes underground, a dusty bulbin a pit of darkness

how deceptive this darkness I am comfort and safetyit says I am the promise of renewal

As she struggles against her nostalgia for her "pit of darkness," she makes a stunning argument about the counterintuitively addictive nature of depression, which promises the safety of well-worn path. Like other addictions, it seduces its survivors back. Just as parents unwittingly pass their trauma on to their children, depression is a cycle that repeats and comforts the victim, perhaps because, as the late Prince observed, "There's joy in repetition."

Thankfully, the narrator also sees the "softwet grey" beauty of a snail on the sidewalk after rain, "neck and head stuck out in brazen vulnerability // forked-front antenna…," whom the narrator carries back into the garden, having won it over with water:

water pouredaround it from a cup

brings the tiny monster-headto drink

full of trust and puddled nowit floats with ease ontotheleaf

Here the language softens to a song almost reminiscent of e. e. Cumming's "in Just-," a paeon to spring in childhood, when the world is "mud-luscious" and "puddle wonderful." Falk's narrator makes the journey from observing to acting with empathy toward a fellow animal, suggesting that even a quotidian act of kindness can alleviate the oppression of our common violence.

In the book's second section, there are three compelling, sonnet-like narrative poems that explore the narrator-survivor's experience of family trauma. She recalls the words spoken by her mother and grandmother and, to her chagrin, recognizes that, as a single parent to her now-grown daughter, she, too played her part in passing on the trauma.

In "Cobolt," the narrator addresses her daughter as she regards a blue ceramic bowl they placed in the center of their table thirty years ago, when her daughter was seven:

I touch the rim as if it were a memory,my finger circling slowly with tendernessI may have never had to give you. Could I not seebeyond the need for strength?

In "Grandma Sadie," the narrator...

• 与创伤写作
• 希拉里·西德里斯（生物）

在《共同的暴力》中，诗人帕特·福克（Pat Falk）娱乐了在一个充满暴力的世界中寻求和平甚至短暂的慰藉的可能性。福克的旁白无法避免她的目光投向遥远国家发生的电视悲剧。即使在郊区的相对平静中，她也无法欣赏鸟类而不会受到残酷的打击。暴力也来自内部，因为诗歌从时事的恐怖转移到通过痛苦的侵略行为传给家庭的痛苦和创伤，无论是肉体还是精神上的-故事和告诫都鲜为人知-被叙述者拒绝，幸存者得以幸存但还是吸收了黑暗。

如果诗人相信，福克鲜明，生动的问题诗直接与我们，自我和上帝说话。在苏珊·桑塔格（Susan Sontag）用该书命名的“关于他人的痛苦”中，叙述者考虑了一份报纸文章，内容是关于一个贫穷国家的地震及其后果，那里有成千上万的幸存者，尤其是一个女孩，住在帐篷城市：

一个从瓦砾中拉出的年轻女孩并没有因撞击而死亡，只是她的指甲不见了，她一定把它们划掉了，试图脱身。

当福克（Falk）的自然主义意象带有暴力的影响时，这些诗也许是最黑暗的：实验兔子的眼睑“缝开”以“测试三毒”的“有毒漂白剂的影响”，而成群的鸟争吵着“长而毛茸茸的东西” ”的小腿从海鸥的喙中“像狗的腿”悬挂着：

在海鸥的眼中恶毒高手种族的傲慢

其他海鸥，鹅，嫉妒或激怒-从追求背后

人类还是动物，似乎我们被大自然所激怒。在“大气压”中，暴风雨使叙述者感到震惊之前处于低压状态：

了解即将发生的暴力

沿着脊柱向下穿过突触进入空心的口袋

灵魂进入地下，黑暗中的尘土飞扬的灯泡

这是我的安慰和安全，这对我的黑暗是多么的欺骗，它说我是复兴的保证

当她为自己的“黑暗之坑”与怀旧作斗争时，她对抑郁症的直觉上瘾性提出了令人震惊的论点，这预示着一条破旧之路的安全性。像其他成瘾一样，它引诱幸存者回来。就像父母不知不觉地将创伤转移给孩子一样，沮丧是一个不断重复并安慰受害者的循环，这可能是因为，正如已故王子所观察到的那样，“重复中有快乐”。

幸运的是，叙述者还在雨后的人行道上看到了蜗牛的“软湿灰色”之美，“脖子和头部伸出脆弱的分支//前叉式天线……”，叙述者将其带回花园，赢得了胜利。用水冲洗：

水泼在其周围用杯子

带上微小的怪物头喝

充满了信任并充满了泡沫，现在它轻松地漂浮在了叶子上

在这里，语言变得柔和，几乎使人回想起ee Cumming的“在Just-”，这是童年春天出现的一只雄鸽，当时的世界是“泥泞的”和“水坑般的美好”。福克（Falk）的叙述者从观察到对另一只动物表现出同情的旅程，这表明，即使是平庸的举动也能减轻我们共同暴力的压迫。

在本书的第二部分中，有三本引人入胜的，类似于十四行诗的叙事诗，探讨了叙述者-幸存者的家庭创伤经历。她回想起母亲和祖母所说的话，并且令她很生气的是，她认识到，作为她现在长大的女儿的单亲父母，她在传递创伤方面也发挥了自己的作用。

在“科博特”中，叙述者向女儿讲述了她的名字，因为她认为三十年前，他们将七个蓝色的陶瓷碗放在桌子中央，当时她的女儿才七岁：

我触摸边缘，好像是在回忆，我的手指慢慢地盘旋着，我可能从来没有给过你。除了力量的需求，我能看到吗？

在“奶奶萨迪”中，叙述者...