PAMELA HART is author of the
award-winning collection, MOTHERS OVER
NANGARHAR, published by Sarabande
Books. She is
writer-in-residence at the Katonah Museum of Art where she manages and teaches an arts-in-education program.
She received the Brian Turner Literary Arts Prize in poetry in 2016. She was
awarded a National Endowment for the Arts poetry fellowship as well as a
fellowship from the SUNY Purchase College Writers Center. Toadlily Press
published her chapbook, The End of the Body. She is a teaching artist in the schools and lives in North
Salem, New York. She is a poetry editor for the Afghan Women’s Writing Project and for As You Were: The Military Review.
1 - How did your
first book or chapbook change your life? How does your most recent work compare
to your previous? How does it feel different?
My chapbook, published many years ago, changed my life because it
meant that my work could find readers, that the conversations I’d been having
in my head could be in dialogue with others. My new book is different in that
it’s a full book. And it’s focused on ideas of war and family so quite
different from my chapbook. I think the poems are more assured.
2 - How did you
come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
I come to poetry by way of journalism. I was a newspaper reporter
and freelance writer for many years. I tried my hand at fiction but have
trouble with plot. Poetry feels akin to journalism in its compression of
language and its observational stance.
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?
All of the above!
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?
I like working on projects so poems that circle a topic or form
help me focus my zig-zag mind. Sometimes, poems start as prose poem creatures. Lately I’ve been writing long poems to strive
for endurance. To try to sustain an idea or image, to explore and play with
complication in a fractalistic kind of way, if that makes sense.
5 - Are public
readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of
writer who enjoys doing readings?
Public readings don’t factor into my process. I don’t mind them,
but I don’t see them as informing the writing. Recently, however, I had the
chance to attend a book club where the members had all read my book. To meet
readers in such an intimate way. To hear them explain their responses. To read
some poems in someone’s home. This was intense and very moving.
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 do think about how description can become a mode of
comprehension, a way to look closely, to think carefully and critically about
the subject or topic of the poem.
I have tried to consider questions at the outset, but often I lose
track or get distracted. I don’t really consider my writing metaphysical, or
even lyrical, but more documentary.
7 – What do you see
the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Does s/he even have
one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?
I think about the work of
artists—to help make sense of these charged times—the daily events that
are ordinary or elevated—so that we might see again and then remember going
forward.
8 - Do you find the
process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
Because of my background in journalism, where words are not so
precious, I’m comfortable with editors. The relationship between writer and a
good editor can be difficult, but it is essential!
9 - What is the
best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
I like this quote from the artist Jasper Johns: “Do something, do
something to that, and then do something to that.”
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?
Generative writing happens best in the early pre-dawn hours, with
revision taking place at other times. A routine has been helpful to me.
Especially as I move between writing and teaching and the rest of my life. But
there are times when it’s harder to maintain that routine.
11 - When your
writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better
word) inspiration?
I run and take walks to help clear the brain. I like to do
something called walking writing – where I talk into my phone, which takes
dictation of the stream of sentences. Also reading.
12 - What fragrance
reminds you of home?
There are a few – fresh cut hay. Privet in July. Low tide in
September.
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?
All of the above. I work at an art museum so visual art plays a
big part of my teaching and thinking. But I like to fold in other areas of
expression and learning such as dance, science, anthropology.
14 - What other
writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of
your work?
Writers like C.D. Wright have been important. Virginia Woolf.
Jorie Graham. Tyehimba Jess. Jake Adam York and Phil Metres. So much great stuff
happening in poetry now.
15 - What would you
like to do that you haven't yet done?
Translate a book poetry from a country such as Mongolia or
Afghanistan. I’d love to travel to Afghanistan and hope for a time when that
country can experience extended peace.
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?
Sculptor or painter. Maybe
documentary film maker.
17 - What made you
write, as opposed to doing something else?
For as long as I can remember I named myself a writer, even when I
likely didn’t know what it meant.
18 - What was the
last great book you read? What was the last great film?
I loved Ilya Kaminsky’s Deaf Republic. Captain Marvel…I’m not well grounded in film.
19 - What are you
currently working on?
A collection of
poems tentatively titled The Brain Project that looks at how the brain breaks
as well as works, and the impact of brain trauma on family/country/culture.
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