Hoarders

"I never watched the American show Hoarders growing up. But Kate Durbin, whose family has a history of mental illness, hoarding and substance use, aptly depicts how a common viewer of the A&E television series is not well positioned to fully understand the subjects of the show. Instead, we tend to judge. This collection comprises poems that focus on individuals and the objects they hold on to, zooming into the meaning of those objects. Durbin told me that the show’s goal was to fix everyone really quickly by the end of each episode. But with her poems, she doesn’t want to resolve anything for the reader. She simply wants to stop and listen to whatever the people and their objects have to say."