The Flammable Connective Strength of Zirconium

Upon reading Chelsea Zinnis’ Zirconia one must pinch themselves and ask, did she really just do that? Or maybe rub their eyes a few times just to make sure. Yet above the aesthetic richness the surface of Minnis’ poems provides she creates a strong, connected, conscious web which reverberates through her poems while never mired in confession.

From the minute one looks at Zinnis’ work, the form is remarkable. She weaves together images and emotion using threads of periods, perhaps gems but containing greater strength, which bind her imagery together, building up fantastic description. As in “Shockwave,”

......................................................struck by translucent lightning.....................

.............................................................................................................or...........

...................kneeling in milk near frayed wire...................................................

.....................................................................................an icing white force.......

..............bursts from your brow..........................................................................

From this explosion she can go forth to blast right through “the beard of an old man,” or “a glass candy dish of semen.” In this connected manner, in which Minnis’ work seems to resemble Stephen Burt’s idea of the elliptical, her poems foster an attachment and a web-like strength which reverberates through the pain she details. Perhaps her poem, “Primrose,” best shows this undaunted beautiful strength. Here she takes the fairly confessional “when my mother/was raped/a harpsichord began to play...there was blood in the courtyard,” and breaks free with “as I beat gentleman rapists/with bronze statuettes/so that the blood...oozes down their handsome sideburns.” Thus she does not leave her poetry hinged on pathos, but instead uses it to attack the “gentleman rapists,” with “corsages and corsages of gunshot.”

In this way Minnis’ work falls into Arielle Greenberg’s theory of the “gurlesque.” Minnis conveys both tenderness and toughness while crafting a glimmering world of beauty. Greenberg also talks of the frank attitude towards sexuality present in the gurlesque. Here Minnis’ “Uh” embodies this notion, “Uh...I want to wear hot pants.../and rest my boot on the back of a man’s neck.” Here Minnis’ mockery allows her to keep her metallic strong exterior.

Even Minnis’ title works itself into this dialogue in somewhat meta-poetic and self-conscious ways. The word “zirconia” is derived from an element in the periodic table, which resists very strongly to corrosion and is highly volatile and flammable. It is also quite metallic and shiny, giving it great aesthetic appeal. In addition, Minnis adds a nice touch to this word, changing its “ium” ending to the feminine “ia.” This correlation between the title and Minnis’ work makes itself quite apparent. The fiery, shimmery, powerful nature of Chelsea Minnis’ work despite its plunge into the dark recesses of exploitation and degradation weaves itself into a web of human emotion with an omnipresent connected sense of fantastic vitality.