In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Abie Irabor
In your poem, “Movie Star,” you create a spotlight of excitement surrounding a parent coming home. What sparked this poem’s creation and the comparison of the homecoming to a celebrity?
This poem’s creation originated from a short story I wrote back in Graduate School. The short story was about my Dad. How his visits were always unexpected, inconsistent, and far and in between. So, whenever he did decide to visit my siblings, mom, and me it was rare, but exciting, to see someone I wish was more present in my life.
The comparison of the homecoming to a celebrity stems from the admiration a child has for their parent(s) like a person has for a celebrity. When it comes to celebrities, fans feel this sense of closeness, connection, and put them on this pedestal, but at the same time they know this celebrity is out of reach. I wanted to capture that in this poem. The child has put their father on a pedestal, he is a celebrity in the child’s eyes. Someone who is far away, rarely seen, and quite flashy (hahaha). I wanted to capture the “hype” around this person who appears close, but is really so far away.
How did you develop the symbolism with the balloons “holding their breath,” and the child waiting for attention, or was that image always part of this piece?
The symbolism with the balloons comes from the idea that my father’s visits were literally like an event, exciting. And balloons were one of the symbols that came to me while drafting this poem. It just so happened that the connection with balloons being filled with air, and air is also breath, and holding breath and balloons waiting to be noticed and pulled down made sense in relation to the child.
You set the scene quite perfectly with only a few details—the dissonance between couches, for example. How do you decide what to keep in and what to leave out when creating a brief poem like this?
This is a question I ask myself when editing poems; what to keep and what to leave out. I will say, I wanted to capture tension and the loud silence within a room filled with people and noise. I hope the brevity of the poem captured this. As I am completing my first poetry book, I find that fewer words capture the tone and energies of the relationship(s) I highlight throughout my writing.
What themes do you return to in your writing?
The themes that I return to in my writing are about family, ancestral lineage, culture, and healing—as of now.
Which authors do you admire? What books are your favorites?
A few of the authors I admire are: Natalie Diaz, Ada Limon, and Joy Harjo.
What are you working on now?
I am currently working on my first book of poetry, where the poem Movie Star will be included.
Abie Irabor is an American Nigerian writer and performing artist. She is currently working on her first chapbook. You can read her other published poems in Euphony Journal, Petigru Review, and California Quarterly, and forthcoming in Angel City Review. She resides in Los Angeles, California.
