On Listening to Your Teacher Take Attendance

“Sea Church” (2018)

This poem also appears in Oceanic. Like “On Listening to Your Teacher Take Attendance,” it shows a sense of awe and appreciation regarding the sea and its creatures. Again, Nezhukumatathil shows the reverence the sea inspires, a devotion of the speaker to her mother, and the wonder at being part of the vastness of the world.

“Dear Amy Nehzooukammyatootill” (2011)

This is a “found,” poem, a poem which is made up of sentences and fragments taken from other sources. In this case, the poems are pieces of emails from high school students who draw conclusions about Nezhukumatathil’s work and personality. This poem, like “On Listening to Your Teacher Take Attendance” deals with people’s assumptions about identity as well as addresses the butchering of the poet’s name (as seen in the title).

“Touchpool” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (2004)

This is a poem first published in Virginia Quarterly Review that later appeared in the collection At The Drive-In Volcano (2007). This poem is like “On Listening to Your Teacher Take Attendance” in its use of a sea creature—this time a baby sand shark—to convey an emotional state. Here, the speaker is an adult realizing that the relationship she is in will eventually end, stinging her like the shark’s rough skin.