Rachel Mallalieu : coda

What other poetry books have you been reading lately?

I’m reading The Kingdom of Ordinary Time by Marie Howe, The Year of the Murder Hornet by Tina Cane, Felon by Reginald Dwayne Betts and Mesmerizingly Sadly Beautiful by Matthew Lippman.

Rachel Mallalieu : part five

What do you find most difficult about writing poetry?

As a mother of five and an emergency physician, it simply boils down to time!! I see things all the time that few people see. I’ll think, “I have to write about this…” But then I don’t, and I quickly forget the image or situation that felt so urgent. I’m most successful when I’m intentional about writing. When I’m intentional, I try to write at least a poem a week.

Rachel Mallalieu : part four

What do you feel poetry can accomplish that other forms can’t?

Poetry packs an emotional punch in as few words as possible. I love being gutted by just a few well written words.

Rachel Mallalieu : part three

How does your work first enter the world? Do you have a social group or writers group that you work ideas and poems with?

I’ve always been a solitary writer. I do run things by my husband and dad. When I need a more objective view point, I run them by my mentor and friend Matthew Lippman.

Rachel Mallalieu : part two

How did you first engage with poetry?

I was obsessed with Edgar Allen Poe when I was in high school. I remember reading his poetry and getting chills. I didn’t start personally writing much until my youngest son suffered a near fatal drowning. I needed a way to work through the trauma and began to obsessively write. Because I was a mother of four (at the time) and worked full time, I needed an accessible form. Poetry proved that medium. I realized that so much of what I saw and did as an emergency physician could be expressed via poetry as well. I started to send my work into the world and had some moderate success. 

Rachel Mallalieu : part one

Rachel Mallalieu is an emergency physician and mother of five. She writes poetry in her spare time. She is the author of A History of Resurrection (Alien Buddha Press 2022).  Some of her recent poetry is featured in Nelle, A Gathering of the Tribes, Dialogist and Rattle. More of her work can be found at rachel-mallalieu.com.

What are you working on?

I am admittedly in a dry spell. I published my first book in April and had a number of poems published back to back in journals. I think I slacked off after that. This summer, I’ve been taking the time to go back and edit and rework old poems that are still unpublished. I am intermittently working on a difficult poem that I began to write after a young mother in our community died.