Claire Millikin Livres

Ransom Street is Claire Millikin’s third collection of poetry with 2Leaf Press. The poems in this volume meditate on the idea of ransom to explore legacies of violence in the southeastern United States, ultimately seeking moments of reckoning for these unsettled histories. A fee paid to release a prisoner, ransom can, Millikin shows us, initiate a sacrificial act that drives people apart, but also, when paid, can bring the homeless home. The poems in Ransom Street move through the question of release elliptically, exploring these abstract implications of ransom through a fictional street in a southeastern American town. The presence of inherited violence, cultural and familial, haunt the terrain of Ransom Street , as the poems move through a geography of ghosts, always seeking “ransom,” the sacrificial act that returns the self to wholeness. 

Exploring the theme of homelessness, Claire Millikin's poetry delves into a deep yearning for the safety and comfort of houses. The collection traverses an American landscape, juxtaposing experiences from childhood to adulthood, while reflecting on personal and familial histories. Drawing on classical mythology and architectural theory, Millikin creates empathetic verses that confront the struggles of those lost in America. The voices of resilient girls resonate throughout, embodying a persistence that aligns with Rimbaud's notion of remaining intact. An introduction by Tara Betts enhances the work's depth.

Exploring the emotional landscape of homelessness and loss, this poetry collection delves into the concept of lost cities, inspired by the historical Tartessos. Millikin poses profound questions about home and identity, navigating through various American geographies from New York City to Georgia. The poems serve as archaeological reflections on disappearances and the resistance to loss, ultimately revealing that true home is tied to self-discovery rather than mere physical location.

Poems that address the pain caused by gender stereotypes and racial oppression in the American South. Claire Millikin's poetry collection, Dolls, stages a confrontation of gendered and racial oppression. Working through the motif of the doll, the poems interrogate femininity in the traditional culture of the South, where damaging structures of gender and race are upheld. Millikin centers the book on an elegy for Sage Smith, an African American trans woman who disappeared from Charlottesville in 2012. Through the recurring figure of the doll--an ultra-femme figure who is frozen, damaged, silenced--Millikin protests the conditions of sexism in the area she was born in, offering poised responses to the wound of injustice that still shapes the region. With a reflective introduction by poet and scholar Sean Frederick Forbes, Dolls presents a harsh look at the price of traditional femininity.