What do you find most difficult about writing poetry?
In a forty-year writing career, I have written in various genres: journalistic pieces, interviews, reviews, etc., but inditing comes the most naturally to me. I can work on a poem for twelve hours and more without it exhausting myself. No other kind of writing does that to me.
What poets changed the way you thought about writing?
Many poets have influenced me a lot over the years. Some particularly influential poets for me have been Olivia Gatwood, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, Rebecca Salazar, Conyer Clayton, John Elizabeth Stinzi, Adele Barclay, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Kyla Jamieson, Ashley-Elizabeth Best, and Theresa Estacion. Some of the most important things I have learned from these poets (a non-extensive list) have been that women’s stories are worth telling; painful experiences are worth exploring with kindness and a gentle touch; it’s okay (in fact often encouraged!) to sit in the places that make you feel weird/uncomfortable/gross because you might find the best things in those places; poetry has incredible political and social power; and that poetry does not to be left-centred — you’re free to move over the page in whatever ways feel right.
Why is poetry important?
It’s important to me personally because it’s the only place I am completely honest about who I am and what I’ve experienced—I have a contract with the poem to be forthright and unapologetic. In a larger sense, a poem links poet and reader; the writing and reading both lead to connections that resonate in a way that feels unexpected yet universal. With details (whether real or imagined), a poem can convey the intricacies of current events or personal histories—and a good poem will keep the reader from shutting down or rejecting the truth. Poetry invites us to challenge convention by raising questions no one’s thought to ask and by reveling in new forms, unusual sounds and syntax, and various visual formats. No matter where a poem lands on the narrative-lyric continuum, its storytelling, word play, and emotion link us to previous generations, to our humanity.
How do you know when a poem is finished?
I never know. I either lose steam, get bored, or something more important comes up, like a drink, or a woman, or an earthquake. But I save everything, so all that unfinished or abandoned stuff can always find new life. Much of what I consider my best work has been reconditioned from previous states where I initially thought all was lost.
Why is poetry important?
Because it gives us hope, while reading a poem, one can get lost in its paresthesia. Poetry hones our humanity, turning us into finer beings.
What do you find most difficult about writing poetry?
Moving past the impulse to write too narrative or too obvious, and not writing only sad poetry haha. I am personally a huge fan of narrative and sad poetry, but I am trying to write happier poems and to really dive into images with less direct/narrative language. It is hard! But it’s fun ☺.
What other poetry books have you been reading lately?
There are so many good ones! Three-Penny Memories by Barbara Harris Leonhard and A Map of Every Undoing by Alicia Elkort (both books are debuts). Outskirts by Heathen, Partial Genius by Mary Biddinger, River Inside the River by Gregory Orr, Wiregrass by Moira J. Saucer.
