1505: Queen of Collapse by Hadara Bar-Nadav

Summary

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily — Episode 1505

Poem: "Queen of Collapse" by Hadara Bar-Nadav
Host: Maggie Smith
Date: April 30, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, host Maggie Smith delves into the poetic technique of repetition, specifically focusing on "anaphora"—the repeated use of words or phrases at the beginnings of lines to evoke memory, momentum, and surprise. Smith reflects on how repetition in poetry not only builds meaning but also mimics processes like memory and inheritance. The episode then introduces and features Hadara Bar-Nadav's poem "Queen of Collapse," which explores themes of lineage, maternal inheritance, and endurance through the lens of repetition.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Power and Purpose of Repetition in Writing

• Maggie Smith opens with a nod to playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, quoting Parks’ views on how music and jazz inspire her work through themes of “repetition and revision” [01:06].

  • “A big part of jazz is repeat and revise and repeat and revise. That’s what my work is all about.” (Suzan-Lori Parks, relayed by Maggie Smith)

• Smith explores how repetition serves writers as a tool for:

  • Building momentum: "With each repetitive word or phrase, I can feel myself chipping away at an idea, uncovering it, getting closer to what I’m trying to articulate.” [01:38]
  • Viewing an idea from new angles: “Often I'll vary the usage slightly, as if looking at the idea from various angles, noticing how the light hits each facet.” [02:08]
  • Memory as “haunting”: "Memory itself is a kind of haunting, and repetition is a kind of haunting in a text.” [02:29]
  • Creating surprise: “You can do the same thing over and over with different results.” [02:43]

• The episode defines anaphora—“Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of lines, clauses, or sentences”—and highlights its rhetorical and emotional impact, referencing well-known speeches such as Martin Luther King Jr.’s "I Have a Dream" [03:20].

• Smith likens the process of repetition to improvisational riffing in jazz, where slight changes invigorate and surprise:

  • “Think of it like riffing. There’s a slight rearrangement, a sense of improvisation.” [03:55]

The Function of Repetition in "Queen of Collapse"

• Smith ties the earlier discussion directly into the poem of the day, framing it as an act of myth-making about inheritance and lineage:
  • “Today’s poem creates a mythology out of inheritance, mirroring the repetition of narratives and lineages.” [04:55]

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Featured Poem: "Queen of Collapse" by Hadara Bar-Nadav [05:00]

Notable Quotes and Poetic Lines

• "Queen of disappearing the girl in me gone Queen of sweet milk blisters sweat Queen as the night opens its mouth and cries the dream Throat black throat barbaric guest Queen seized by wide white jaws..."
• “My mother’s face ripples across my face, across my child’s face Queen of collapse, our hunger everlasting.” [06:16]

Themes & Imagery

• Maternal inheritance ("My mother’s face ripples across my face, across my child’s face")
• Endurance and exhaustion ("Queen of the body count fingers, shadows, toes warped by war and sleeplessness")
• Blending of self and legacy (“the girl in me gone”, “Queen of collapse, our hunger everlasting”)
• Anaphoric structure: Frequent repetition of “Queen of…” evokes both lineage and burden

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• Maggie Smith, on repetition:
  • “Repetition is often a way of building momentum… With each repetitive word or phrase, I can feel myself chipping away at an idea, uncovering it, getting closer to what I’m trying to articulate.” [01:25]
• Hadara Bar-Nadav, via poem:
  • “Queen of the corpse I invite inside for a glass of rain, the rain coming down like gravel over our heads…” [06:06]
• On lineal connections:
  • “My mother’s face ripples across my face, across my child’s face.” [06:15]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:06] — Maggie Smith reflects on repetition in her own practice, inspired by jazz and Suzan-Lori Parks
• [02:29] — “Memory itself is a kind of haunting, and repetition is a kind of haunting in a text.”
• [03:20] — Explanation and examples of anaphora (MLK, Elie Wiesel)
• [04:55] — Framing "Queen of Collapse" as a meditation on inheritance and myth-making through repetition
• [05:00] — Reading of "Queen of Collapse" by Hadara Bar-Nadav
• [06:36] — Episode closes and poem lingers, with Smith reflecting on the poem’s resonance

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Conclusion

This episode of The Slowdown offers a profound meditation on the power of repetition—as both form and function—in poetry and life. By unwrapping the layers of Hadara Bar-Nadav’s “Queen of Collapse,” host Maggie Smith demonstrates how poetic structure mirrors the cyclical nature of memory, inheritance, and identity. The episode leaves listeners with a vivid emotional experience, highlighting poetry as both a tool for personal reflection and a means to access shared truths across generations.

Transcript

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[Maggie Smith]

I'm Maggie Smith, and this is the Slow down. The playwright Susan Laurie Parks once said, there are aspects of music that I borrow and use in my work. Repetition and revision. A big part of jazz is repeat and revise and repeat and revise. That's what my work is all about. Repetition is often a way of building momentum. As I write with each repetitive word or phrase, I can feel myself chipping away at an idea, uncovering it, getting closer to what I'm trying to articulate. Repetition can also be a way of

[Poet Hedara Bar Nadav]

turning something over and over in my hands.

[Maggie Smith]

Often I'll vary the usage slightly, as if looking at the idea from various angles, noticing how the light hits each facet. One of the magic tricks of repetition is that it enacts remembering.

[Poet Hedara Bar Nadav]

Think about it.

[Maggie Smith]

Memory itself is a kind of haunting, and repetition is a kind of haunting in a text. Another magic trick of repetition is that

[Poet Hedara Bar Nadav]

you can do the same thing over

[Maggie Smith]

and over with different results. You might deploy a line, word, phrase, or image, then redeploy it again and again. Each repetition engages the reader differently. The key is variation. Think of it like riffing. There's a slight rearrangement, a sense of improvisation. Each time the element reappears, the variation on that repetition grabs our attention. We grow accustomed to what we're receiving, and so a change jars us, breaks our expectation so that suddenly that moment is emphasized. Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of lines, clauses, or sentences is called anaphora. It's common in sermons and political speeches because it's incantatory and persuasive. Anaphora patterns Martin Luther King Jr. S I have a Dream speech and Elie Wiesel's speech the Perils of indifference. In my own work, I found that anaphora is a way of revving the engineering and building momentum, or, to use another metaphor, a way of chipping away at an idea like a chisel into marble. Repeating the same word or phrase opens

[Poet Hedara Bar Nadav]

something up, forces us to finish the

[Maggie Smith]

thought in a new way each time.

[Poet Hedara Bar Nadav]

I always surprise myself.

[Maggie Smith]

With each repetition of the phrase, the sentence goes in a slightly new direction. Today's poem creates a mythology out of inheritance, mirroring the repetition of narratives and lineages. Queen of Collapse by Hedara Bar Nadav

[Poet Hedara Bar Nadav]

Queen of disappearing the girl in me gone Queen of sweet milk blisters sweat Queen as the night opens its mouth and cries the dream Throat black throat barbaric guest Queen seized by wide white jaws My subjects all, all turn cannibal animal mall their love gigantic, their never ending need Queen claimed by the smallest fists Queen of the body count fingers, shadows, toes warped by war and sleeplessness we are a thousand years old Queen of the corpse I invite inside for a glass of rain, the rain coming down like gravel over our heads My mother's face ripples across my face, across my child's face Queen of collapse, our hunger everlasting.

[Maggie Smith]

The Slowdown is a production of American Public Media in partnership with the Poetry Foundation. To get a poem delivered to you daily, go to slowdownshow.org and sign up for our newsletter and find us on Instagram @downdownshow and blueskylowdownshow.org.

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