Jumping off place

Lynn Marie DiPier
Wed, 29 Apr 2026 13:46:42 PDT

'Jumping Off Place' is about eating from the tree of knowledge, which often has brutal and painful consequences. Childhood and adolescence play significant roles, as this is where emotional growth begins. Within family and societal constructs, physical and psychological thresholds are crossed and inner landscapes are suggested in the process. Three sections define a beginning, middle, and end to the journey, yet it is a cyclical story. The poems' speakers eventually make choices that confront the world's mutability; speakers progress as they comprehend, adjust, decide, and finally move forward through the barrier of risk to autonomy, but do not emerge unscathed. In the sense of Aristotelian poetic theory, the characters in these poems are plot: action, reaction, and interaction create metaphor. Although the poems are predominantly narrative, lyric and formal impulses and close attention to sound encourage the development of ideas and musicality of verse.