Individual History

An Individual History describes the fears, anger, and guilt—personal, familial, societal, political, and historical—that comprise a life. The figure of the speaker’s maternal grandmother who was institutionalized for five decades serves as an overriding metaphor for this haunting, bold new work by an essential American poet. from “An Individual History” This was before the time of lithium and Zoloftbefore mood stabilizers and anxiolyticsand almost all the psychotropic drugs, but not beforethorazine,which the suicide O’Laughlin called “handcuffs for themind.”It was before, during, and after the time of atomicfallout,Auschwitz, the Nakba, DDT, and you could take watercures,find solace in quarantines, participate in shunnings,or stand at Lourdes among the canes and crutches.