Interrupting Waves

A Poetic Interruption of The Waves, Virginia Woolf.

I recently turned to my old battered copy of The Waves while rummaging through quotes for a script. I studied this text in 1994 and have probably read it a dozen times since, gaining something new with each sitting. It’s best to read in one day if you have the stamina. It is my absolute favorite Woolf novel, definitely on par with, though surpassing, To the Lighthouse. If you want to learn how to write, read (and reread) To the Lighthouse, and if you want to learn how to think, read (and reread) The Waves.

It’s taken me a while to feel my own presence following my mother’s death, and I’ve been drawn to revisiting and reading aloud my favorite work, which made me realize how different, strange even, my voice, spoken as well as written, sounds to me now that my mother gone. I have been divided into two women. A Then and an After Self, like a Prelude and an Aftershock, so I’m revisiting the text that shaped my Prelude and interrupting it with my Aftershock. It’s an investigation that I’m recording audibly, visually, and as a series of zines in the spirit of quick documentation and mistake-friendly experimentation. I have no expectations beyond staying curious and observant. Below is a recording of my narrative poem, which I use to interrupt the excerpts. Listen if you’re interested, and feel free to share your thoughts.