Elisa Gonzalez on the process of writing her debut collection
"I just didn’t believe I could finish a collection of poetry. It’s boring to admit, but I think the cause of my limited imagination is very simple: I grew up poor, without anyone in my life who was a writer, I was homeschooled and thus somewhat isolated—and then launched into elite institutions in which I had to find my footing fast and yet constantly felt out of place. I developed a necessary imagination—I learned how to adapt—but I struggled to inhabit the self-belief required to fulfill larger ambitions."
via MCSWEENEY'S |
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What Sparks Poetry:
Niki Herd on Language as Form
"My poems usually take several months, if not years, to write themselves but 'Lyric Sung in Third Person' will only take a few short months. I often think cinematically and the poem's draft is asking me to deviate from the conversational tone of my previous work. It's asking for a reflective and lyrical treatment. Here, I imagine a canvas filled with lineated images and caesuras in my attempt to engage the visual and kinetic energy of the page." |
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