Listen Here.
“I Am a Woman of Almost 62 Years Old / of no special bravery.”
With this poem, Carla Rachel Sameth begins her hour on The Hive Poetry Show, reading from her first full-length collection, Secondary Inspections, released in January 2024, as well as newer poems. For a voice both introspective and self-aware, Sameth’s writing pours itself into the people around her–her biracial Black son, a mother succumbing to dementia, siblings, lovers, and her wife going through the process of transitioning into her husband.
As Eduardo C. Corral notes about Carla’s work, “Blossoming and decay are the twin forces in these powerful poems. Addiction, death, raising a child blessed with more than one story, and queerness are the threads woven throughout the book, but they also vibrate with their own particular music.” Particular, yes, but always leaning into the shared experience, several of these poems, such as “Love Letter to a Burning World,” and “June 2020,” decipher the intersecting perplexities of the pandemic, the intensification of racial unrest, and the fires–literal and figurative–that raged around us during that season. Sameth’s gaze shrinks from none of the distress but does not linger in the emotions, arresting us instead with a captivating image or wry undertone. She says of her family, “We used to argue over the hearts and gizzards; now no one wants those parts.”
“Secondary Inspections invites us to take a second look at what we thought we knew and shows us how things are not always what they seem—identity can be questioned, provoke danger, and leave us impacted by how others see us; the bedrock of a family can be forever shifting and we too shift along with it. Through powerful narrative and vivid imagery, Sameth’s poetry travels, searches, stumbles, and ultimately, returns. Even amidst heart-staggering moments, she reveals a rich cultural life that is both within, and that is further made possible by deeply being in the places you love with the people you love” (carlasameth.com).
Carla Rachel Sameth is the co-poet laureate of Altadena (2022-2024) and a Poet Laureate Fellow with the Academy of American Poets. Her chapbook, What Is Left was published in December 2021 with Dancing Girl Press. Her memoir, One Day on the Gold Line was reissued by Golden Foothills Press in December 2022. Her work has been selected three times as Notable Essays of the Year in Best American Essays. A Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee. a Pasadena Rose Poet, a West Hollywood Pride Poet, and a former PEN Teaching Artist, Carla has taught creative writing to high school and university students, incarcerated youth and other diverse communities.
Listen to Carla read her poems and talk candidly with Geneffa about the experiences that informed them–a conversation relatable to those who are mothers or have otherwise had to learn to embrace while letting go.
Secondary Inspections is now available for order.
