Julia Bouwsma’s Midden dramatizes the forcible eviction of the community living on Malaga Island, which occurred in 1912, and its aftermath. Prefatory materials inform readers that this tragedy affected “an interracial community of roughly forty-five people from Malaga Island, a small island off the coast of Phippsburg.”
Midden spans poetic forms such as persona poems, lyric poems, and sestina fragments. In epigraphs, Bouswma quotes sources ranging from Jean Genet’s memoir Prisoner of Love to the Bible to a 1909 letter from a schoolteacher who accepted a post on Malaga Island. The book also includes photographs, and a reproduction of a historical document outlining plans for the eviction.
In an “Afterward,” Bouwsma describes what she calls “a poet’s research—circular and sometimes scattered but obsessive” (65). She notes that the project began when she heard an anecdote about Malaga Island, and went on to research historical news articles, photographs, artifacts, and letters; visit the island; read articles and books; listen to audio interviews; and speak to descendants of the evicted community. The “Afterward” mentions articles and books that were crucial to the research process. The book also cites sources in a “Notes” section.
Buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Midden-Poets-Loud-Julia-Bouwsma/dp/0823280985
Author website: https://www.juliabouwsma.com/
Read more here: https://poems.com/poem/two-poems-bouwsma/
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