RANSOM STREET is Claire Millikin's third poetry collection published by 2Leaf Press. The poems in this volume meditate on the idea of ransom to explore legacies of violence in the southeastern United States, ultimately seeking moments of reckoning for these unsettled histories. Ransom, a payment made to free a captive, can lead to a sacrificial act that separates individuals, yet, as Millikin illustrates, it can also reunite the homeless with a sense of belonging. The poems in RANSOM STREET navigate the theme of release in a roundabout way, delving into the abstract meanings of ransom through a fictional street in a southeastern American town. The lingering effects of inherited violence, both cultural and familial, permeate the landscape of RANSOM STREET, as the poems traverse a realm of spirits, perpetually in search of "ransom," the sacrificial act that restores the self to completeness.
