Her poems “Conversation with Her Body,” “Conversation with My Hands,” “Conversation with My Appendix” and “Conversation with My Uterus” appear in the thirty-seventh issue of Touch the Donkey.
Q: Tell me about the poems “Conversation with Her Body,” “Conversation with My Hands,” “Conversation with My Appendix” and “Conversation with My Uterus.”
A: I’m fascinated by the etymology of the word “conversation.” The root of the word means to dwell with or keep company with. These four poems are conversations with my body, where I explore what it means for us to live together. Conversations between my body and other bodies are also captured in these poems.
Q: How do these poems compare to some of the other work you’ve been doing lately?
A: I started writing prose poems on the theme of “Conversations with My Body” in 2020 and haven’t stopped! These poems are part of this project.
Q: What prompted you to work in the form of the prose poem? What do you feel is possible through the form of the prose poem that might not be otherwise?
A: I have no idea what prompted me to start writing prose poems – it just happened. A prose poem can fool the reader into thinking that the text they are about to read is not a poem – they look so innocent and orderly! I love the duplicitous nature of this form.
Q: Have you followed any particular author or example for your forays into the prose poem, or are you working more intuitively?
A: I am working more intuitively. But Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein always inspires me.
Q: Have you noticed an evolution in your poems since working through this particular project?
A: Yes, absolutely. The poems in this project are becoming more mysterious and surreal. As Mary Ruefle writes about poetry practice: “Something stranger and stranger is getting closer and closer.”
Q: Do you see anything beyond this particular project, or are you not there yet in your thinking?
A: I am definitely not there yet!
Q: Finally, who do you read to reenergize your own work? What particular works can’t you help but return to?
A: Reading poetry, or other writing by poets, always reenergizes my work. I often return to Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke and Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton. I have my mum’s copy of the former and my dad’s copy of the latter, so these books feel like they are part of an inheritance or poetic lineage. I also frequently reread Odes by Sharon Olds. This book always invites me to be more irreverent, vulnerable, and daring in my work.
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