Set against a backdrop of Ferris wheels, Georgia jacuzzies, and Fraggle Rock, Exit Interview functions as a dictionary, encyclopedia, and atlas all at once, mapping even "the dimensions / of heaven" in it its effort to chisel meaning out of an abusive relationship and into the world of the speaker's young son, Dante. In the same yes-to-the-red-dress key as Kim Addonizio's Tell Me, Doran starts us smack in the heart of her speaker's biggest mistake, an "ax-hot" rendezvous with a gas station attendant. The speaker's attempts to make sense of the "tizzies and shimmies" of her new relationship mirror her young son's grappling with everything from God to the erotic.
Doran's speaker filters abstractions such as sex and religion through pop culture allusions like Britney Spears, Bill Nye, and Big Pun, attempting to provide a set of concrete specs for her son's survival. Of course the "scuzz and dribble" of abuse starts to replace the daffodils and arcades that were once the root of her romantic relationship. No longer in the safety of fable, where the world can be explained in cute-cut symbols like lions and stars, our speaker laments: "I try to say I am confused and desperate with / out saying I am confused and desperate because he's six / and there's only so much romance he knows exists." And the familiar takes on a menacing mien as mother and son sputter like "just another lurch in the planets," unsure whether to aim for haunted sky or some blessed plot of ground.
Alexa Doran is also the author of the May Sarton award-winning collection DM Me, Mother Darling (Bauhan 2021), and of the chapbook Nightsink, Faucet Me a Lullaby (Bottlecap Press 2019). Doran grew up in Syracuse, NY, and currently lives with her son, Dante, and her dog, Battle Max, in Florida. More details are on her website, alexadoran.com.