About
About Claire
I am from Foster City, California. I went to fashion school at FIDM and then went to study writing at the University of San Francisco. I started writing poems in middle school, and by the time I was in college I had a few pieces published. My new collection that I am releasing SPLINTERS was the product of how my identity has been shaped by place and lessons I have learned. The synopsis I wrote claims,
SPLINTERS is a collection of poems that all revolve around the connection between identity, and a distinct haunting of the past through the authors interpretation of nostalgic dreams. Often memories are remembered in a series of snapshots, brief passing moments quite similar to the dreamscape.
I try to point to the complexities of humans. We are more than flesh and mind, we are more than soul and body, we want to exist as having a multitude of facets but being one thing— human. For a long time I would get these strange dreams, where I would be trapped in a building and confronted with uncomfortable conversations with people I didn't want to see. I want to tackle the thoughts without the closure from a friendship or breakup. When things are messy or painful and somehow you can't talk, you don't have the words till much later and alone. I think nostalgia is a feeling that is depicted throughout the entire collection but being nostalgic doesn't mean you have to sit in the past, but rather use the past as a map for the present and future. There is a wisdom in learning from the past that I aim to express.
I feel like a lot of my work tries to sit in the interior while exploring the external experiences we all go through. I believe my best work comes from the pieces that have some conclusion, that are grounded in the concrete but play with simile, metaphor and sounds.
A big theme in my work is the opposition to fear. I think many of my poems have been written as a catharsis for how I respond to change in situations I cannot control. They serve as a sort of aphorism I tell myself when I approach a situation I'm uncomfortable with. This is not to say fear is a bad feeling, more so approach situations with confidence in the future, confidence in your fate per se if fate exists.
I am excited to share some of the first stages of this collection with you.
Please reach out if you have any questions.