1 - How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
decompose isn't officially out yet for a few months, so I think I haven't fully processed how it has changed my life, just yet. For now, I'll say that I finally have an answer for the question: "When will you have a book out and when can I get my hands on it?" I used to get this all the time after readings, and now, I can officially say: SOON.
Dr. Taylor Byas and I talk about this often. The new work feels sharper, and more elegant. Its light has changed hue. There is a luster the older poems have that I still admire, and the new poems have their own confidence and vigor that I can't help but respect!
2 - How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
When I was very young I started keeping a journal, I believe in first or second grade. Those journal entries had line breaks in them, before I even knew what they were. I think poetry has always been the most natural genre for me. I started poetry and fiction at the same time, actually. I think the rhythm of life has moved me to publish more poetry first, however I do publish both nonfiction and fiction, too. They are all important to me, equally.
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?
decompose, in particular, took about a decade. I started it around 18 years old. It depends on the project, but also, I think this book might prove to take longer than most of the books I'll write in the future. Now that I've done it once, it is a little less daunting. I have a good chunk of poetry book two and I am part of the way into a nonfiction project. I would say all of the above, in terms of quick or slow process, and first drafts being close or distant to their final form. It ranges from poem to poem. There are the poems that come out "ready to run" to quote our Poet Laureate, Ada Limón in her poem "What I Didn’t Know Before" and then there are poems that take dozens of drafts to chisel into their shape.
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 go from poem to poem, and I'd say the pieces combine into a larger work in time. My second book came to me as a concept much more quickly than the first, but even then, the concept could change. I usually don't work on a book from the beginning, but with this second book I've sort of kept the framework in mind as I write. I don't expect everything I write to fit, but it's good to know there's a home waiting if it does.
5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
I do enjoy doing readings. It's a cool part of the process, to engage with an audience of readers and listeners in real time. I am often very inspired at readings and have written many a poem while attending a reading.
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?
think this changes from poem to poem, but right now I'm writing a lot about childhood and philosophy. Each poem has its own questions, and I'm not sure if they are ever really answered. The kind of work I want to write is meant to bring awareness and leave you with more questions than you started with. If I leave a reader thinking and asking questions, I'm happy.
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'm going to give you the classic playwright answer: to hold a mirror up to the world. There is an absolute necessity to storytellers in society, as stories are how a lot of us survive. For me, writing has kept me alive and been the light that guided me through times where I didn't think I would make it out alive. Through storytelling, I hope to make people feel seen.
8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
Absolutely essential.
9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
Javier Zamora told me: Remember, the book is not you. However successful the book is, it isn't a reflection of who you are as a person. People's opinions of it are not their opinion of you. It's going to go out there and live its own life, have its own journey.
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 write every day, whether it be a poem, part of an essay, short story, script, etc. I have a full time job, so on my lunch break and after work I write. I read every morning and evening. 5-10 poems in the morning, 5-10 in the evening. Usually that amounts to 1-2 collections of poems a week. I typically like to read poems in the morning, nonfiction during the day, and fiction in the evening. Generally I'm reading one book of each genre. Right now I'm reading a lot of craft books and memoirs.
11 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?
I go for a walk or read. I see a lot of films too, and this inspires me immensely. Sometimes, if I need to take the pressure off, I go play video games or pool.
12 - What fragrance reminds you of home?
Coffee in cold weather.
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?
Film, visual art (I love museums), and video games, for sure. I also have playlists for each book.
14 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?
I really could go on and on and on, but to add just a fraction of the writers who move me: Dr. Taylor Byas, Javier Zamora, Dia Roth, Dare Williams, Susan Nguyen, Danez Smith, Shira Erlichman, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Diane Seuss, Richard Siken, Jason B. Crawford, Rita Mookerjee, Jo Cipriano Zamora, Anne Carson, Carl Phillips, Khadijah Queen, Michelle Tea, Gem Arbogast, Amelia Ada, Austen Leah Rose, Erin Marie Lynch, Meg Kim, Erin Mizrahi, Chen Chen, Sarah Ghazal Ali, Megan Fernandes, Ariana Benson, and Rhiannon McGavin to name a few.
15 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
Be in a TV writers' room.
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?
When I was a kid I wanted to be a director, which is what I do besides writing. If I had to do any other occupation full time, that's where I'd be. Technically, my degree is in directing and playwriting.
17 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
I must.
18 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
Black Pastoral by Ariana Benson and Poor Things.
19 - What are you currently working on?
A nonfiction project and a TV pilot. <3
12 or 20 (second series) questions;
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