Spahr's Origins in Well Then There Now

One of the things I like best about Well Then There Now is the way in which Juliana Spahr expresses her views on how negatively we treat the environment and each other. Most of her poems are filled with descriptions and details of every little thing, and "Gentle Now, Don't Add to Heartache" overflows with descriptions of nature and Spahr's feelings towards her early life in Chillicothe, Ohio. In stanza one of "Gentle Now, Don't Add to Heartache" Spahr illustrates how we remember most of the initial world we are born into. Especially if our childhood is spent all in one place, we come to know all of the people and the land very well; we "breathe it in" as Spahr says.
In two we are introduced to the scenery of the stream that Spahr grew up near. Living near a stream and woods myself, I can somewhat relate. Spahr isn't just listing off random plants and creatures, you really do come to learn all about your surroundings, including all of the different types of trees, flowers, and animals that you come to see every day. As a reader, it seems as though there is a different childhood memory or story connected to each thing she lists off, and that's why she remembers it all so vividly. Three continues with the descriptions and further demonstrates Spahr's affections for the wildlife and nature she grew up with.
Four is interesting because it shows the reader what it's like to love all of something: the good and the bad. It's obvious that the stream has a special meaning to Spahr, and she recalls all of the beauty of it as well as the bad- the soda cans, cigarette butts, runoff from agriculture and construction sites, and all of the chemicals. She describes letting all of these things absorb into her skin as well as her memory, so it will always be a part of her physically and metaphorically.
The bittersweet ending of five denotes the changes Spahr begins to see in Chilicothe; changes in economy, ecology, society, and herself. When she turns "to each other" she illustrates growing up and losing the innocence of childhood and of losing her connection to the stream. All in all, "Gentle Now, Don't Add to Heartache" is Spahr's way of leading the reader through her childhood and showing us the importance of having memories and connections to home.

"The Incinerator" once again returns to Chillicothe and dissects the aspects of economy and gender. Spahr begins to unpack the meanings of work and "middle class" and what they mean to her family and the nation. It is almost a revelation that Spahr's childhood may not have been as beautiful and glamorous as she had described it in "Gentle Now, Don't Add to Heartache." It's as though it was a difficult realization that Spahr struggled to understand, growing up she felt confused as to which class her family fit into: "I was trying to understand my mother when she called us middle class all through my childhood. And why she said this since by all the markers...we were working class" (143). What I mostly took from "The Incinerator" is that it's hard to define what categories are and which one you feel you may fit into, and this was something Spahr realized when she looked back on her childhood in Chillicothe and how it may have shaped her life after Ohio.

Just as a side note, I'm from Kent, Ohio which, as it turns out, is 3 hours and 18 minutes away from where Spahr was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. (Kent is A, Chillicothe is B)