I Do Not Want to Be Drowned

Gallagher uses poetry, photo collage, and handwritten text to follow the experience of a woman who kept her memories in "hardwood bowls." Through the use of magical realism, Gallagher allows the reader to follow the woman as she lets some "gentle memory" touch her skin and understand the history of the woman who began emptying her memories into different containers since she was 8 years old. The poem ends with the image of the woman, bound to a cycle of "Sisyphusean" sorting, maintaining her collection of bowls "sloshing with memories" at the end of the poem. --Grace Li