Curating the House of Nostalgia

Curating the House of Nostalgia is a collection of poems grounded in far-flung settings: Alaska, Yukon, Newfoundland. They weave along stretches of pitted road, open spaces, and the interior landscapes of unforeseen circumstances.  The words gathered here take inventory of  and classify what remains in the shadow of unfathomable loss. They consist of clutter and scree, the scrim of love and bereavement. They are fragments of love letters written to spirit, mailed to a general delivery address in a northern wilderness town, a drop off point for backcountry adventures, and disappearances.  These poems germinate cottonwood seed within dark, silent stillness to eventually drift, way-find, and channel what goodness remains. Christianson's latest work is an offering of Rooibos tea, the tinny of a windchime, the harsh mew of a red-breasted sapsucker, and ultimately a reflection on how to carry on.