How does a poem begin?
In Victoria Chang’s epistolary book, Dear Silence, she writes that a poem begins after a silence. My poems begin in the almost same fashion, but I would much rather call my silence an emptiness. When I feel like I have given up or depleted myself of everything, I write a poem to fill that emptiness.
When you require renewal, is there a particular poem or book that you return to? A particular author?
I love to read Ada Limon’s Bright Dead Things. The first poem in the collection always makes my heart gallop because the poem, “How to Triumph Like a Girl,” has such swagger and grace in language and images. I will often read this poem more than a thousand times (yes, an exaggeration--! I just love it so much though) because it is a reminder of what poetry should feel like, both in my head and heart.
What do you find most difficult about writing poetry?
Sometimes, I struggle with hiding behind figurative language—I want to jump out of the closet that is poetic language and just be as plain and direct as possible. When this happens, I try to experiment in prose.
What do you feel poetry can accomplish that other forms can’t?
In poetry, there is a sense of secrecy that some writers have a hard time appreciating. For me, secrecy has played a huge factor in how I write, share, and communicate, both fortunately and unfortunately. I think that poetry can accomplish this sense of vulnerability in sharing these secrets and building a community that knows how to not shame these secrets, per se, but to love and praise these secrets instead.
What are you working on?
I am currently working on my critical thesis for my Master’s in Fine Arts. This project is hybrid, involving creative nonfiction and poetry, which is a formidable task for myself. I am currently in the process of interviewing poets who also write prose to see if their creative process for each genre is different. When I am not working on this, I am working on a poetry collection about the first time you feel something for someone and how it changes your beliefs in love and joy in relationships.
