TRAILER TRASH
Poems by Andie Woodard
These poems discuss internalized classism, as well as the mental and environmental conditions that often accompany poverty, especially in the south: uneducated sexual exploration (and exploitation), untreated mental illness, addiction, insecure attachment in relationships, and religious idealization. For people living in poverty, these characteristics are inherited, and this collection explores that generational trauma through free-verse and erasure poetry. The work also explores “lifestyles” that are not accepted in the Bible Belt, like sexual liberation, queer relationships, and a refusal to look at trauma as something that “made you stronger.” TRAILER TRASH is for anyone who needs their hurt to be reflected back to them and their rage to be validated so that they might finally walk the path, without interruption, toward healing and hope.
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Praise for TRAILER TRASH from The Racket
“[Trailer Trash is m]emoric poetry about how patriarchy and classism come together to harrow the living experience of people who are women or who have been socialized by women. It’s about isolation, abuse, desperation, and how systems lock up voices. […] Classism is so abundant that it can be hard to recognize it from your environment. Trailer Trash embraces the raw and constantly evolving nature of trauma and abuse and survival. Sometimes we need a breadcrumb trail. […] Memoir and poetry are two genres that are incredibly linked but rarely spoken together. This collection is memoir as poetry and it works so well with the form.”
Review by Lauren Parker