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?
Having my first book published by Ugly Duckling Presse has given me a sense of confidence and belonging as a poet. It took me about seven years to publish my first full-length book of poetry. I was beginning to lose hope when my friend Farnoosh Fathi encouraged me to keep working on my manuscript at a residency in New Lebanon, New York. I have been a fan of Ugly Duckling Presse since I first arrived in New York after college, and it is a very affirming experience to find a home with them. I found out the news in the middle of parent conferences (I’m a high school teacher) in the fall of 2019, and I was elated!
2 - How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
I came to poetry at a very young age. At ten years old, I wrote my first couple of poems--a rhyming poem about a girl being bullied at my school and a poem about sitting under the pine tree in my front yard. My parents took me to a poetry workshop at First Night in Boston on New Year’s Eve, where I met the poet Patricia Smith. She took me under her wing, and soon I was participating in poetry slams at the Cantab Lounge in Boston--by far the youngest reader there. I had a difficult time socially in middle school and high school, and the performance poetry community was a place where I felt seen and valued. In a zine I made in high school, I wrote, “I live for intimacy,” which pretty much sums up why I came to poetry.
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?
I usually start by free-writing, which happens quickly. Then, I go back and edit the raw material, which can take a long time. Some poems come out more or less finished; whereas, others take years of tinkering.
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?
Sometimes a poem begins with a hit of inspiration--a student says something or a phrase or image gets stuck in my head. It can also begin with reading--for example, a lot of the poems in my first book The Supposed Huntsman are inspired by a clunky translation of Brothers Grimm fairy tales that I found during a residency at the Saltonstall Foundation. Other times, there is no inspiration, and I just start freewriting until I arrive somewhere. Sometimes, I’ll sit in public parks and let my surroundings filter into my writing--animals and people and bits of dialogue. I usually start with short pieces and then combine them later, though I also work on series--dance poems, park poems, and Brothers Grimm poems, for example.
5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
I love doing readings. Although my work has changed a lot since high school, my roots in performance poetry still impact my practice. I am also interested in expanding the format of readings--once I gave a reading from bed at an event at a friend’s loft in Brooklyn. For my first chapbook Dances & Parks (DIEZ Press), I organized a traveling series of readings and performances through Prospect Park in Brooklyn--including comedy and dance. A highlight was arriving at one of the stops on the tour where a group of teenagers were smoking weed. I told them I was doing a reading, and they stayed and seemed to enjoy the poems. I like the chance encounters that happen in public places. If I could be reborn into the past, I would be a wandering troubadour.
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 am interested in questioning constructed borders--between human and animal, male and female, powerful and weak--in my writing. In the title poem of my book, “The Supposed Huntsman,” I “suppose” what I might be, using the hypothetical to open up space for transformations in gender, identity, and power.
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 there are various roles for writers in our culture. I am happy to see poetry in more public places--such as Amanda Gorman’s poems at the inauguration and the superbowl--showing that poetry is taking an expanding role in our culture. I think that writers can also shape culture in more subtle ways by opening up possibilities of being and thinking, even for smaller audiences.
8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
I find it essential to have outside readers. I have a group of friends from graduate school that I meet with regularly to share work. They gave me a lot of feedback on my manuscript. It’s very helpful to have a group of readers I can trust and who help me to see my work more clearly.
9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
In a 1934 radio interview, an interviewer asks Gertrude Stein to explain her work, and she responds: “Look here. Being intelligible is not what it seems. You mean by understanding that you can talk about it in the way that you have a habit of talking, putting it in other words. But I mean by understanding enjoyment. If you enjoy it, you understand it. And lots of people have enjoyed it so lots of people have understood it.” This interview affirmed my belief in the importance of pleasure and enjoyment that so often get crushed under the weight of productivity and logic.
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?
My writing is pretty sporadic. I’ve been working as a high school English teacher for the past five years, so my typical day begins with getting up early and commuting to my school. I put a lot of energy into teaching, so sometimes writing gets pushed to the side during the school year. Luckily, I have the summers to focus on writing, and I had a very fruitful residency in New Lebanon a couple of summers ago. I’d like to come to a place where writing is more a part of my daily routine.
11 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?
Nature and the outdoors are a great place to return to rekindle my writing. Going to the residency in New Lebanon, eating farm fresh veggies, taking walks at night under the stars, and swimming in Shaker Pond--all helped me reconnect with myself and my writing. Friends are also very helpful to get me back into writing and having regular meetings with my writing group helps a lot.
12 - What fragrance reminds you of home?
The smell of cut flowers. My mom is a florist, and this smell reminds me of her.
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?
I am inspired by dance (especially Yvonne Rainer and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker) as well as animals (real and imagined) and fungi (underground hyphal networks!).
14 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?
Gertrude Stein opened up a lot for me when I first discovered Tender Buttons in college. James Baldwin, Emily Dickinson, Federico Garcia Lorca, Frank O’Hara, Claudia Rankine, Patricia Smith, William Carlos Williams, Virginia Woolf are all very important to me.
15 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
Make bread and drive a motorcycle.
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 have been working as a high school English teacher for the past five years, which is a big part of my life. In an alternate universe, I would be a singer in a punk rock band or a bouncer at a peacock sanctuary.
17 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
Poetry has always been a place where I’ve felt a sense of freedom and an ability to connect with my emotions. In some ways, I’m a very rational and concrete person, and poetry is the place where I connect to my intuitive side and reach out to the unknown.
18 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
The last great book I read was Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong--such a brilliant and important book. The last great film I saw was Mountains May Depart by Jia Zhangke. I’m a big fan of his films!
19 - What are you currently working on?
A series of poems using a persona called “Teacher-Creature.” In these poems, I explore what it feels like to balance different parts of my identity--as a teacher, poet, animal, adult, queer woman, etc. I am writing about how it feels to be a “mature” teacher, while still feeling like a creature at times.
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