stephanie
roberts is the
author of the poetry collection rushes from the river disappointment
(McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2020). A widely published Quebec-based poet,
her work has been featured in Poetry Magazine, the League of Canadian Poets,
The BreakBeat Poets: LatiNEXT (Haymarket Books, 2020), and elsewhere. She won
first prize for Black Mountain Press’s The Sixty-Four: Best Poets of 2018. You
can contact her at www.oceansandfire.com, @ringtales Instagram
1 -
How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work
compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
rob,
thank you for this opportunity. My first book, the self-published collection, The
Melting Potential of Fire, didn't change my life, rather my changing life
was the pressure for new expression. That book was all gut intuition and nerve;
in rushes from the river disappointment, I reckon I've added a knowledge
of craft.
2 -
How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or
non-fiction?
Fate.
3 -
How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your
writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process?
I
have had a miserable time most of my writing life trying to chart a writing
routine. I almost never sit down to write new work, instead, I keep small
themed spiral pads: notes, quotes, books, and poems that I write in all the
time—often full poems. Does that count as writing quickly? I work to revise and
edit work when I begin submitting.
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
read that the pilot fish of sharks are so attached to their sharks that they
will follow the ship that captures their shark for days afterward. I've never
written a poem about that but the image of that true or anecdotal relationship
is the sort of thing that ignites me. I have done the former but feel up for
the challenge of the latter.
5 -
Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the
sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
I
think public readings are translations of the written work and are a related
but different art form—more akin to performing than writing. Ideally I'd have
the actor Marianne Jean-Baptiste do all my readings and I'd sign the books in
the back. I do enjoy the challenge of giving an audience a good performance,
and if drinks are happening afterward all the better.
6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns
behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your
work?
Thought-provoking
questions, thank you Rob. I find composing poetry pleasurable this is my point
A. As I continue, it seems I'm trying to answer the questions: What feels true?
What does love mean to me? What does a life of courage look like? I'm terrified
of my cowardice; I'm always metal testing my courage. I want to work just over
my head within reach of drowning.
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?
My
answer is paradoxical. The writer shouldn't give a fuck about their role in
culture, and their role is vital. The role of the poet is to, as much as
possible, be themselves intensely and remain themselves. Not to say who we are
is static. I think the healthy psyche is subject to the same pressures on a
caterpillar to become butterfly.
Wallace
Stevens believed that poetry achieves more for the knowledge of human nature
than history. In an essay on poetry and the imagination, he looked to Swiss historian Jakob Burckhardt for affirmation, "Burckhard considers the
status of poetry at various epochs, among various peoples and classes, asking
each time who is singing or writing, and for whom. Poetry is the
voice of religion, prophecy, mythology, history, national life and
inexplicably, for [Burckhardt], of literature." I tend to agree.
8
- Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or
essential (or both)?
My
experience with this is too limited to comment constructively. Desolé.
9
- What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you
directly)?
I
am whatever I want to be.
10
- How easy has it been for you to move between genres (poetry to essays to
short fiction)?
I
am deeply in love with and energized by writing poetry. I have ten unfinished
short stories and a handful of essays but I have no desire to cheat on poetry.
11
- What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one?
How does a typical day (for you) begin?
The
day cracks open at the whir of my espresso machine after that I could end up on
the moon.
12
- When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of
a better word) inspiration?
A
nap, maybe a couple of them.
13
- What fragrance reminds you of home?
Two
levels down on a New York City subway station platform. Inimitable.
14
- 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?
Music
and visual arts infuse me with emotional energy which I convert into my work,
but there is a certain kind of raw brutality in science and nature that catches
me most sharply as to resemblances like the previously mentioned pilot fish. I
attribute human passion to the behaviour of the pilot fish which I know is
ridiculous, or is it? What's the difference between instinct and will when many
of us have damn well chased fishing boats after the dead and long gone shark of
our desires? Feel me?
15
- What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your
life outside of your work?
Emily Dickinson for life and art, Toni Morrison and Marilynne Robinson are exemplars
of intellect, courage and compassion, and Elena Ferrante and Patrizia Cavalli
are gods. Rilke is The Reverend. I have a love/hate/hate relationship with
Wallace Stevens, nevertheless I identify with his insularity and, for better or
worse, his way of thinking inspires me. I think Steve Scafidi is one of the
most astute living American poets. I relate to the ambition of his work which
somehow manages a polygamist marriage of heart-breaking tenderness, the erotic,
anger, and humour while tangling (or untangling) intimate relationship, and
politics. I am deeply wounded and excruciatingly challenged by his work.
16
- What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
Weathered
a Tw*tter scandal.
17
- 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?
Theoretical
physicists or sculptor. I may yet squeeze in the sculpting.
18
- What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
I
think I was destined to be a writer. In grade four or five, I got into trouble
for co-writing with my sister a small graphic comic that dispatched her school
enemies. Writing well suits my Hydra-like imagination.
19
- What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
20
- What are you currently working on?
My
next full poetry manuscript should be ready for submitting by June's end, and
I'm finishing a chap-sized collection of erotic anti-love poems. In early
stages, I've begun a semi-autobiographical poetry collection that spans the
geographies of Panama, Brooklyn, and Beauharnois, I'm thinking of it as my Patterson.
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