Most people cringe at the musings of their 14-year-old selves. Annalisa Hansford, a senior writing, literature, and publishing student, gains constant inspiration from their past self.
“Romanticization of Grief and Ghosts,” a poetry chapbook published and distributed by Bottlecap Press, is the result of eight years of writing poetry. The poems, which were mostly written during Hansford’s sophomore year, deal with themes of falling in love, falling out of love, grief, and all the growing pains of youth.
“Because I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a person and a poet, looking back at this feels like a time capsule of who I used to be,” Hansford said. “It’s weird because it reminds me of a person who I don’t always love, but that was who I was at one point in my life.”
Hansford’s poem “Abecedarian for My Future Lover,” which won the 2024 Academy of American Poets College Prize, was based on their experiences having an intense crush that was not reciprocal. “portrait of my ex-girlfriend’s mouth,” which was published in The West Review literary magazine, describes a foregone love, and was written for a class based on a prompt.
“A lot of these poems I wrote after a breakup that I hadn’t really processed yet,” Hansford said. “It was swimming out of me and I had no choice but to write it. Poetry was a way to structure it and be like, ‘Okay, I feel these things.’”
At the beginning of this semester, Hansford became an intern at the Grolier Poetry Book Shop in Cambridge. The Grolier has been a staple of the Boston poetry scene for nearly a century—today, its owners hope to promote interest in poetry among an increasingly digital generation.
“Writing, especially poetry, can be such an act of solitude, so finding that poetry community is really great,” Hansford said. “At the Grolier, we have weekly poetry readings, and everyone’s so close—literally—during the reading. It really feels like a tight-knit community there.”
James Fraser, who manages the Grolier, believes that the bookstore provides a valuable space for writers and readers of poetry to convene and share their experiences and interests.
“When creating poems or when reading poems, it’s often a solitary experience—with either the writer to the page, or the reader to the page,” Fraser said. “However, a bookshop offers you this cultural space to meet poets, to meet writers, to find books, and to talk with others about books.”
Working in a space dedicated to poetry allowed them to find others who could share their passions. By being exposed to the greater poetry world, Hansford has been made aware of new contemporary influences, including Dana Blatt, Gaia Rajan, and K-Ming Chang, some of whom Hansford has been able to personally meet.
“When I was in high school, I didn’t realize how many great poets there are that are still writing now,” Hansford said. “I thought it was only dead poets, but through literary magazines especially, I’ve found a lot of poets that inspire me.”
While historical bookstores like the Grolier persevere as physical spaces for writers and poets, these are increasingly rare. But Hansford believes that poetry still has a place in today’s world; Fraser concurs.
“Come buy Annalisa’s new chapbook, a wonderful addition from a new poet,” Fraser said. “Support a local poet, support a local bookstore, and support an independent press, Bottlecap press.”
“Romanticization of Ghosts and Grief” was published on March 4, and can be purchased online and in select bookstores, including the Grolier.
