1 - How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
Interglacial is a continuation of what I began in my first book Empire. In Empire, I was figuring out where we were, environmentally, through reading about extinction stories, colonial destruction and displacement of peoples and animal-others, and the evolution of natural history. Interglacial is a continuation of that education. Though with Empire's underpinning, I was also interested in thinking about what it means to watch the world move further into these crises and how having a daughter changes what's at stake. Empire also helped me think about how to use form in tandem with subject. Because of that, the process of developing the form for Interglacial was more intentional from the beginning of the project.
2 - How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
Growing up, I loved reading, though I didn't really start reading poetry until high school. In high school and college, in the 90's, friends and I would seek out book stores and record stores to hunt for new books and albums, in our own town and nearby towns too. We would swap the good stuff we discovered. Emily Dickinson was foundational for me then and still is. Also, I just don't think in terms of character or plot. I'm more drawn to images and moments. I have been experimenting with nonfiction. I have some unfinished essays that I need to return to eventually.
3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?
My process is both fast and slow! It can take me a year or more to figure out a project's subject and form. That process involves lots of reading and notetaking and experimenting. Once I have those pieces sorted out, the remainder of the work often comes more quickly, like over the course of a year. First drafts of early poems often do not look like their final shapes, but once I sort out those early poems, then I can write with fewer major revisions.
My work does come from copious notes! I read many books and articles before and during the writing of both Empire and Interglacial. Nonfiction, criticism, poetry, natural histories. I also spend time in the field--hiking, walking, birding, driving. I probably filled about 4-5 notebooks during each of those projects.
4 - Where does a poem usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?
Similar to my answer above, at the beginning, I'm experimenting, but then once I have the form and subject I write into it. I have a hard time writing short poems--I love sequences because you can stay in the subject and keep working it from different places, repeating images and language in different contexts. The poems in Interglacial are mostly divided by specific places.
After that initial period of searching and experimenting, I am working on a book. And it's usually based on something I want to know more about--like the prairie in my first book and the Great Lakes in my second.
5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
Public readings are not part of my process. I do enjoy people though so I like giving readings and attending readings and then chatting with other creative people at those kinds of events. I think community is really important to creative work.
6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?
I have many theoretical concerns: What are the origins of our current environmental crises, and how are they entangled with power and empire? What does it mean for us and for other species that humans are disappearing so many other forms of life, ethically, morally, for our survival and the survival of other lifeways? Why can't we address any of our current problems, environmental or otherwise? What does it mean for my daughter? What comes after, what remains, and what will it mean? How does language shape our perception of all of this?
7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Do they even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?
I think one role for writers is to notice and make connections. Notice events and phenomena and connect them across time and history and communicate those observations and entanglements to others so we are aware or will remember and more people will notice too and think about those events and phenomena.
8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
I usually think working with others who are reading your work is exciting. But I think you have to know when suggestions are being made that improve the work of the writer rather than shape the work into something else.
9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
Hmm, to believe people when they tell you things, to be realistic when setting goals, to let yourself feel joy even when things feel bleak. Those are kind of self-helpy, but they are things I think of regularly!
10 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?
I tend to write in bursts over a few months or a year, and then for periods of time I'm just reading and taking notes towards something new. When I'm in the middle of a project I tend to start by reading either NF or poetry, then I write for an hour or two and then maybe edit some previous work.
11 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?
I turn to other writers, like many writers do, and I always have my notebook to fall back on.
12 - What fragrance reminds you of home?
Hmm, I don't think I have one. Flat fields and rural roads sort of remind me of my childhood home. I live in a pretty urban neighborhood now, but I have some native plants in my yard and bird feeders and those things make my house feel like home.
13 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?
Nature and science both influence my work, also experiences out in the field, walking, birding, driving--the visuals and bodily experiences of all those.
14 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?
Emily Dickinson, Susan Howe, Lorine Niedecker, but also science writers and essayists like EO Wilson and Barry Lopez, and theorists and critics like Donna Haraway, Lynn Keller, and Joan Retallack. I try to read a lot of poetry and am mainly interested in poetics that are experimenting at least a little. I read fiction for fun--where I'm not thinking as much about my own work but getting lost in a story.
15 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
Regarding writing, I've mostly participated in experiential residencies. I'd like to try one that is just for working where they feed you! In May 2027, I will be visiting the Arctic Circle with the Arctic Circle Artist and Science Residency Program. I've wanted to visit the far north for a while since working on subjects related to climate change for the last 20 years--I'm very excited to do that. I'm looking forward to traveling more with my daughter now that she's gotten a little older. I'm going to Glacier National Park this summer with my family and my brother's family.
16 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?
I was interested in international studies as a student or publishing. Strangely I've also thought about nursing because of the interpersonal dimension, field biologist, maybe?
17 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
I've always had to do "something else" as most writers do and those other things have alternated between teaching and nonprofit programming and fundraising, and I've just kept writing on the side--I've had some windows of time where writing became a bigger part of my time and times where it really was relegated to the sidelines. I imagine maybe that will continue to be the case in future!
18 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
Instead of last great book, I'll mention two interesting books I've recently read: The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano--it's wild. And then Charlotte McConaghy's Wild Dark Shore which is a kind of eco-suspense book, a real-page turner. Re: film, late to the game, I recently watched Sinners with my husband. A great film, many intersecting themes and genre-mixing, working on all sorts of levels!
19 - What are you currently working on?
I am working on a book-length series of roadkill poems based on notes I accumulated while commuting over the last four years. It approaches some of my writing themes from a different angle. The first half of the project is sort of singular and composed of many firsthand observations. I'm thinking more about the commons and the collective in the second half. I'm also reading texts about the Arctic for my trip next year, starting with A Woman in the Polar Night, a memior by Christaine Ritter from the 1930s and Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez. I've been studying some pelagic birding field guides too.
12 or 20 (second series) questions;
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