Author Statement: “I grew up under the shadow of Plath’s world, in that my father’s and Plath’s lives intersected in a town and time where status and image mattered above all else, a belief that stamped its impact on generations of families. They were in the same class at Wellesley High School and even went on a summer date on the Isles of Shoals. He said, "She was nice. Quiet." My father’s mother underwent ECT multiple times at Mount Auburn Hospital. My mother told me my grandmother and Plath’s mother were bridge partners, a fact my father doesn’t recall. His brother, my uncle, took his own life. From this shadow my poems emerge, exploring the long arm of patriarchy and the quest for identity and expression."