A poetry collection in nine sections that each take on an aspect of
memory.
The poems in t/here it is take multiple forms as each section reflects
on variations of experience, engaging with the simultaneity of historic
and present time while yearning for a future that is beyond what we can
envision. In Section I, the poet grapples with ancestral legacy and
connection to the natural world. Section II deals with the way one
traverses the urban landscape and with various strategies of survival,
and Section III recalls the observations and experiences of youth.
Through nine linked poems, Section IV complicates the idea of witness
under a capitalistic system bent on exploitation and devaluing the
sacred human experience. Section V speaks to the lost opportunity of
making profound human connections during the race to acquire more
material goods. In Section VI, the poems take on the domestic and
institutional places that govern our lives. A single poem forms Section
VII, mapping the intersection between jazz and emotion. With Section
VIII, Anderson pays homage to jazz greats and reflects on the ways that
listening can carry one back to moments of growth and lamentation. The
two poems that close out the book in Section IX bring the reader to a
place of vulnerability, expressing the desire to be able to discern the
multiple avenues of one's journey with awareness.
