Christine Sung

NationalPoetryMonth.ca April 4, 2022

gnaw by Christine Sung is published on NationalPoetryMonth.ca on April 4, 2023

From Christine Sung, “My piece "gnaw" is an extended metaphor that uses mouth and finger analogies. It's in conversation with Jason Purcell who uses a lot of sickness metaphors in their poems. It depicts what it means to hold a place in history in relation to existence. In the end I think it says that someone's life story is like a jawbreaker.

I'm writing from the perspective of a disabled BIPOC artist and I honour my experiences by working through various stages of trauma. I tackle topics such as mental health, friendship, the environment, nature and romantic love. My work is occasionally in response with artists that I admire.

Purcell’s debut poetry collection "Swollening" (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022) is all about sickness as a metaphor and mouth imagery.”

Christine Sung is a disabled and mad artist living and writing in Ottawa, Canada. She has been previously published by Bywords.ca, Corporeal Lit Mag and Autofocus. She usually writes from experience, but occasionally you can dream.

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