Tyler Pufpaff : part one

Tyler Pufpaff: Poetry Editor at Variant Literature. English & Business student at UNCG. Lover of black coffee and the Godfather movies. Previous publications have appeared or are forthcoming in Torrid Literature Journal, Coraddi, and Poetry Diversified 2019: An Anthology of Human Experience.

How did you first engage with poetry?

I was taking a creative writing class in high school. Naturally we broached the subject of poetry – most of us dreading the assignments to come. My poems scored poorly but my friend, well, she was gifted. The competitive side of me came out, playfully, and I kept writing desiring to score better than her. I never did. A year later, far removed from home in my grandparent’s guest bedroom, I would write. I would stay up all night drinking whatever bottles my coworkers would buy for me (underaged) and I would just feel. Had I not had the introduction a year prior, I can’t even imagine what kind of misery I’d still be in. This is when it started. I haven’t stopped since.