M. Stone : part five

How does a poem begin?

Sometimes it’s as simple as a single verse that pops into my head. In that case, I’ll work to build an entire poem around the original line that caught my attention. Sometimes I’ll see something beautiful in nature that will inspire me, or a memory will prompt me to jot down a first draft. Other times, I have an issue I’m dealing with in my life, and poetry serves as a form of catharsis or a way for me to work through the problem. In literal terms, my poems often begin as scribbles on scrap paper.

M. Stone : part four

What other poetry books have you been reading lately?

I recently read Kasey Jueds’s Keeper, which is absolutely beautiful. I was very moved by Chloe Honum’s Then Winter, and the imagery in Analicia Sotelo’s Virgin is amazing. Right now I’m reading Jenny George’s The Dream of Reason, and it’s already one of my favorites.

M. Stone : part three

What do you find most difficult about writing poetry?

I have to be careful that I’m not too overt with a poem’s meaning. When I’m revising, I find quite a few lines that are unnecessary restatements of what came before, and so I try to be diligent in omitting those. I don’t want to write a poem so opaque that the reader can’t relate to it in any way, but I also don’t want to dictate just how a reader will connect with its meaning.

M. Stone : part two

Has your consideration of poetry changed since you began?

I didn’t start seriously writing poetry until college, and today, I think I’m much more flexible with myself regarding what constitutes a poem than I was when I was learning about form and meter. I primarily write free verse, and I’m reaching a point where I don’t feel like my poems are less than if they veer into narrative or confessional territory. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with poetry being accessible.

M. Stone : part one

M. Stone is a bookworm, birdwatcher, and stargazer who writes poetry and fiction while living in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in San Pedro River Review, Star 82 Review, UCity Review, and numerous other journals. Find her on Twitter @writermstone and at writermstone.wordpress.com.

How did you first engage with poetry?

My sixth grade teacher read the class one of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories, and I was an immediate fan. I went home and told my mom all about this story, and then discovered that she too had been a fan of Poe’s when she was in school. So we went to the bookstore, and she bought me a big volume of his collected stories and poems, and then she read “The Raven” aloud to me. I was eleven and honestly had no idea what the poem meant, but I loved the cadence of it, and the music in the verses. Then I began writing my own poems—really bad ones—generally as a way of expressing adolescent angst.