Cora Siré : coda

Thank you so much for your poetry interviews! It’s a fraught time for many artists. I miss our live events and meeting poets at readings. Your project helps to keep us connected. When the pandemic started, I had a really hard time writing at all and accepting the sudden isolation. Then I was asked to write some reviews of poetry collections. Reading other poets, engaging more deeply with their books brought me around and eventually I was able to come back to my writing.

Cora Siré : part five

How important is music to your poetry?

Hugely important, both directly and indirectly. I’ve written a number of poems inspired by music, especially the pieces my beloved plays on the clarinet and Andean quena. I play piano and ukulele and if no one’s listening, I might sing. Songs and music have helped me consider the rhythms, tempos and sonorous qualities of my poems, as well as silence, or the absence of sound in the blank spaces around a stanza. When I’m crafting my poetry, I always read the poems out loud. That’s why, even pre-Covid, I rarely work in cafés.

Cora Siré : part four

What other poetry books have you been reading lately?

I generally alternate between classics and contemporary. I’m currently reading a new translation (from the Russian by Antony Wood) of Pushkin’s poetry. Pushkin was 37 when he died of a gunshot wound inflicted during a duel, yet he left behind an astonishing number of poems. But my greatest thrill is reading the poets in our community. I marvel at their ingenuity. I’m thinking of Greg Santos, for example, and his latest poetry collection, Ghost Face. Also, Klara du Plessis, author of Hell Light Flesh. Everyone interested in Canadian poetry should read their books. Another poet who inspires me is Gloria Macher. We recently co-wrote and directed I Want More Life to Love! a short film featuring our poems about another pandemic – femicide.

Cora Siré : part three

How does your work first enter the world?

I belong to a group of phenomenal Montréal writers who give me critical feedback. We’re six authors and artists including Su J Sokol, Sharon Lax, B.A. Markus, Sivan Slapak, and Deanna Radford meeting twice a month (virtually these days). They’re all brilliant with deep writerly instincts.  I test-drive my poems with them and their insights are hugely important to me. They call me out when I’m too obscure or the words don’t fall together as they should, but in ways that are helpful rather than discouraging. 

Cora Siré : part two

How do you know when a poem is finished?

That’s such a tricky question. I have a hard time letting go of a poem or manuscript. Even after it’s published, I’m prone to working on it some more. Most artists, I think, are never entirely satisfied with their work. There’s a famous story about Bonnard who had a painting in the Louvre which he considered incomplete. He went to the museum, asked a friend to create a diversion, and when nobody was looking, Bonnard whipped out his brush and paints to fix the work. I identify with that impulse.

Cora Siré : part one

Cora Siré is the author of two novels and two poetry collections. Her first book of poems, Signs of Subversive Innocents, was published in 2014 by Signature Editions. The second collection, Not in Vain You’ve Sent Me Light, is just out with Guernica Editions.  Her poetry, essays and short stories have been published in anthologies and magazines in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. She lives in Montréal.

What are you working on?

I’m preparing for the launch of my new book, a collection of poems published by Guernica Editions this spring. Not in Vain You’ve Sent Me Light is a high-voltage portrait gallery, with provocative depictions of lovers, heroes, artists, and mothers. It’s got a playful quality that I hope will resonate. The creation of this book was an adventure for me, and I’m very grateful to my publisher (@guernica_ed) as well as Elana Wolff whose astute editing and brilliant poetics were instrumental in helping me polish the collection.