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Buffer Zone: Snapshots from an Abortion Clinic Escort
The walk from the car to the door can be a painfully long distance when strangers are shouting at you and calling you a murderer. These verbal snapshots recall glimpses from the front line point of view of someone who guides patients through fundamentalist terror so they may safely find reproductive healthcare.
- GenresPoetry
26 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 23, 2023
This was my 22nd book for #TheSealeyChallenge!
It is an amazing book, and if you would like a glimpse (from a safe distance) into what goes into being an abortion clinic escort, this book is for you. Christine Taylor's poems are not linear, or told like an article or a story, but they do create a narrative, and it is harrowing. What these women and men do--making sure women and those accompanying them are safe moving from their vehicles into the clinic and back again--is frightening and heroic. Taylor presents her perspective, and much of it (especially for a woman, and I imagine, even mores for a woman of color) is terrifying: men threatening, men using their physicality to intimidate, groups screaming, men doing research on the escorts and shouting out personal information. Just typing those things makes my stomach hurt.
As far as the poems, there are 16 free verse poems, including a concrete poem. All use the page in interesting ways.
A few of my favorite poems: "Sticks & Stones," ""Hands Up, Don't Abort,"" "Homage to My Middle-aged Black Body," "Gauntlet," and the last poem, "To My Fellow Clinic Escorts: Englewood, NJ." I also need to comment on the title of the first poem, "Hell Sent Me a Greeting Card." I cannot imagine seeing that title and not thinking, "I must read that poem."
Obviously, gender, race, class, violence, healthcare, and religion are all central to this book.
Some of the bits I liked in particular include:
"I wonder how much research he had to do to find this obscure
tidbit, such a grotesque fascination with me that has gone
into sharpening a dagger to pierce me . . . "
--Sticks & Stones
"Oh Lord, forgive us our trespasses
as we escort women"
--Ode to Plastic Jesus
" . . . all I can imagine is our being swept away
water carrying us to some swampy ditch in Secaucus
where we'll flounder in muck."
--Then the Flood
Another powerful voice and a great collection--highly recommend!
It is an amazing book, and if you would like a glimpse (from a safe distance) into what goes into being an abortion clinic escort, this book is for you. Christine Taylor's poems are not linear, or told like an article or a story, but they do create a narrative, and it is harrowing. What these women and men do--making sure women and those accompanying them are safe moving from their vehicles into the clinic and back again--is frightening and heroic. Taylor presents her perspective, and much of it (especially for a woman, and I imagine, even mores for a woman of color) is terrifying: men threatening, men using their physicality to intimidate, groups screaming, men doing research on the escorts and shouting out personal information. Just typing those things makes my stomach hurt.
As far as the poems, there are 16 free verse poems, including a concrete poem. All use the page in interesting ways.
A few of my favorite poems: "Sticks & Stones," ""Hands Up, Don't Abort,"" "Homage to My Middle-aged Black Body," "Gauntlet," and the last poem, "To My Fellow Clinic Escorts: Englewood, NJ." I also need to comment on the title of the first poem, "Hell Sent Me a Greeting Card." I cannot imagine seeing that title and not thinking, "I must read that poem."
Obviously, gender, race, class, violence, healthcare, and religion are all central to this book.
Some of the bits I liked in particular include:
"I wonder how much research he had to do to find this obscure
tidbit, such a grotesque fascination with me that has gone
into sharpening a dagger to pierce me . . . "
--Sticks & Stones
"Oh Lord, forgive us our trespasses
as we escort women"
--Ode to Plastic Jesus
" . . . all I can imagine is our being swept away
water carrying us to some swampy ditch in Secaucus
where we'll flounder in muck."
--Then the Flood
Another powerful voice and a great collection--highly recommend!
Displaying 1 of 1 review