Pandemic

References to the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the collection are symbolic of trauma and tragedy. The author is using these pandemic allusions in order to consider the ways in which cultural crisis might impact the human psyche. She also uses the pandemic as the background for her parallel explorations regarding the unity that might arise from shared trauma.

Essex

In the poem "Essex I," the Essex whaling ship is a symbol of the collective. The author is using the ship and the whale attack it experienced as a metaphor for the American public. She is likening this historic ship's story to America's story throughout the pandemic.

Whale

The whale the speaker references in "Essex I" is a symbol of the pandemic, or any other similar attack on a community. In this poem, the whale attacks the ship, causing grave devastation. The whale is thus representative of those...