Monday, January 23, 2023

TBR: I Want To Tell You by Jesse Lee Kercheval

 TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.

 



We don’t expect an elevator pitch from a poet, but can you tell us about your work in 2-3 sentences?

 

I write poems that grab you in that elevator and urgently tell you about love, death, and the illusive, ever-shifting meaning of life—while also making you laugh. At least once in a while.

 

2 sentences—though I admit that first one is long. I notice my publisher’s website chose the more economical “Poems That Urgently Remind Us Love Keeps Us Alive.”

 

What boundaries did you break in the writing of this book? Where does that sort of courage come from?

 

Though most of the poems in I Want To Tell You were written before the pandemic, I started putting the book together when I was in lockdown in Montevideo, Uruguay. That made me want a book with an urgent, direct, at times even manic, voice. One that speaks directly to the reader. There are no poems about Covid—but there is an “end times” intensity, I think, I hope, about the book. That decision not to hold back, not to “play nice” was the breakthrough for me. I got that courage, if that’s the right word, from my sense in that any moment that I might die, that my reader might die, and there was no time to lose. And though we all feel less panicked now that is the universal human situation in this world.

 

 

Which poem did you most enjoy writing? Why? And, which poem gave you the most trouble, and why?

 

The poem I most enjoyed writing was the title poem, “I Want To Tell You.” It’s the one where I found the direct voice I was looking for:

“I am talking about poetry. / I am talking about breaking out of the neat little box of humorous lines / rising to a     zing / of cosmic meaning at the end.”

 

I felt it put the reader on notice about what kind of book they were about to read.

 

The poem that was the hardest was “Ill Call This Death Chartreuse, Her Favorite Color” which is about my sister-in-law who I loved fiercely dying of lung cancer.

 

Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s road to publication.

 

Every book I’ve published has had its own windy path to publication. This one was less complicated than many. I sent the manuscript to Ed Ochester, the long-time editor of the Pitt Poetry Series at the University of Pittsburgh Press. Ed had accepted three previous books from me: my poetry collection Dog Angel and two of my translations of Uruguayan poets, The Invisible Bridge by Circe Maia and Love Poems by Idea VilariƱo. And I love being published by Pitt.

 

Then I heard he was retiring and the press was searching for a new series editor. I assumed the press would not be accepting new books during the transition and so put all thought of my manuscript out of my mind.  I was completely surprised when I got an email saying that I Want To Tell You had been accepted by the new interim editor, Terrance Hayes, and editorial team, Nancy Krygowski and Jeffrey McDaniel. I was in a big Zoom meeting when email arrived and everyone got to see me jumping around and waving my hands like a crazy person (luckily my mic was muted).

 

What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?

 

My former students are always quoting back to me things I told them, advice I often do not remember giving. The advice I give myself most often is as much life advice as writing advice: The work is the reward. It’s to remind myself that the writing is what gives me pleasure. Not publication. To be honest, publication, especially of a book, is a bit stressful or, to be even more honest, painful. I always try to be writing away, doing new work when a book comes out.

 

My favorite writing advice is “write until something surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?

 

The surprise was how the book came together. I pulled together older poems I loved that had not been in a book, then wrote new work that addressed the same central issues and it just clicked. That had never happened before. My books are either poetic snapshots in time, like my first book, World as Dictionary, which I wrote right after my daughter was born and while a dear friend was dying of a brain tumor. Or are “project” books like Cinema Muto, which is poems about silent film and the silent film conference I go to every year in Italy,  I Want To Tell You was built around voice, around the person(a) in the poems speaking to the reader and I was genuinely surprised how well that worked as the spine of a book.

 

What was your experience ordering these poems?

 

I always struggle with that. Often there is a narrative arc in my poetry books that probably has its roots in my other life as a fiction writer. I have a friend, the poet (Amy) Quan Barry who tells her MFA students to just put their poems in book in alphabetical order by title. So I took that advice—but just as a clean start. Then I starting moving poems, thinking, Oh this one has to come after that one. As I did, I realized the structure was more like a personal essay. I was making an emotional and philosophical argument. I think one of the last things I decided to do was put the title poem, “I Want To Tell You” first, rather than last where I would usually place a title poem. The last poem now, “I am telling you” is more consoling. It ends, “Be the tree./ Be the book./ Be the one who loves & is forgiven. / Be.”

 

Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)

 

There are avocados in “I’ll Call This Death Chartreuse, Your Favorite Color” falling from the tree in my sister-in-law’s yard in Miami. These are the big Florida avocados, not the smaller Haas ones. They have a brighter, greener taste. I grew up on them and prefer their taste which is a bit lighter, less oily. And—plus—they are so big a single avocado makes a big bowl of guacamole.

 

My sister-in-law always used this classic Southern guac recipe which, honestly, is delicious: https://www.readyseteat.com/recipes-RoTel-Rockin-Guacamole-6823

 

 

*****

 

READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: www.jlkercheval.com

 

READ MORE ABOUT THIS PUBLISHER: www.upittpress.org

 

BUY THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK:

You can order the book directly from the University of Pittsburgh Press through the link below but if you click on BUY on their site, it also gives you the option of ordering it from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound, Powells, etc.

https://upittpress.org/books/9780822967071/

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

TBR: Like Water in the Palm of My Hand by Lois Roma-Deeley

TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.


 


We don’t expect an elevator pitch from a poet, but can you tell us about your work in 2-3 sentences?

 

“Roma-Deeley’s poems seek to pitch imagination beyond itself to something more like divination. These are poems that show us ‘how hard it is to be a human being,’ but which also ‘celebrate the moment of possibility.’”Daniel Tobin

 

Which poem/s did you most enjoy writing? Why? And, which poem/s gave you the most trouble, and why?

 

Some of the most enjoyable poems came out of collaborations with visual artists which lead me to surprising and completely unexpected places in my work.  More specifically:

 

The poems “Be There No End to the End of this Night” (originally published as “Be There No End to the End of this Day”), “Now That,” “Empty Spaces,” “How to Be Rooted,” “If When,” “The Love Poem (I Can Not Write),” and “If I Were Smarter, I’d Be More Afraid” (reprinted) were part of the exhibition Geology of Spirit: A Photo-Poetic Collaboration, with fine art photographers Patrick O'Brien and Cyd Peroni, and with poet Rosemarie Dombrowski. The poems “I Came Here for Some Answers” and “The Virgin River Speaks of Loneliness” were written in response to the work of visual artist Beth Shadur. The poems “What It Is or How to Get There” and “Why Moon Jellyfish Won’t Speak of Cancer” were written in response to the work of visual artist Cherie Buck-Hutchison.

https://www.geologyofspirit.com/

www.bethshadur.com/the-poetic-dialogue-project

 

 The more difficult poems to write were troubling emotionally. These came out of deeply painful personal experiences. Even though some of those poems garnered national attention, they were difficult to write and difficult to see published.   Several poems in the book came out of my own private experiences with breast cancer.  For example, the New Millennium Writings XLV contest, selected my poem “Why Moon Jellyfish Won’t Speak of Cancer” as a finalist. Such poems dealing with cancer were also include in Vice-Versa’s Illness as a Form of Existence Anthology, which republished “Why Moon Jellyfish Won’t Speak of Cancer” and also included “Absence in Five Parts.”  Similarly, the poem “In My Brother’s Recovery Room” was based on my experience with my older brother’s two week stay in the hospital due to his heart operation. This poem found a home in Italian Americana.

 

Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s road to publication.

 

Almost every poem in this collection has been published. The collection, as a whole, has been a finalist and semi-finalist for national contests. I was pleased to know the poems and the collection as a whole resonated with various and varied audiences but it always stings to come close and “still no cigar.” However, I eventually was elated to find Kelsay Books as my new publisher and am so pleased with my experience with them.

 

What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?

 

My favorite pieces of writing advice are “write line by line,” “write until something surprises you” and “allow everything that wants to come into the poem, come into it.”   All these pieces of advice have one thing in common—they allow for a “give and take” between craft and imagination. For me, the best poems come when I am not clutching onto perfectionism—when I write a line and then allow my imagination to expand.  There is a kind of joy I experience when I write another line and see where that line will take me. At this point, I will remember that craft will help me shape the poem into its ultimate form. In other words, it is more than okay to be messy.

 

What surprised you in the writing of this book?

 

Many voices demanded to be heard in this book. I was surprised by how those voices connected with me and how they lead me on a journey toward a deeper understanding of “how very hard it is to be a human being.”

 

How did you find the title of your book?

 

This collection explores the nature of change and its relationship to time and timelessness which, to my mind, seem to co-exist within each of us. In addition, I am fascinated by the limits and lessons of memory and how memory often serves as a conduit to the past but can also be a bridge to the future.  The present moment is fraught with competing realities which seem to crystalize and then, too soon, disappear, “like water in the palm of my hand.” Are we, as human beings, the sum of our choices? Are we trapped or enlarged by those choices?

 

 

Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)

 

I am Italian-American and love to create a feast for my family and guests. So I would say this book would go perfectly with my Baked Ziti, stuffed mushrooms, Pinot Noir wine, crusty Italian bread served and Caprese Salad. I don’t use a written down recipe for the Baked Ziti. I just make the dish as my mother taught me. However, I’ll include a recipe for Caprese Salad, which is refreshing—as I hope readers will find of the poems in my book: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/caprese-salad-recipe-1939232

 

*****

 

READ MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

https://www.loisroma-deeley.com/

 

READ MORE ABOUT THIS PUBLISHER:

https://kelsaybooks.com/products/like-water-in-the-palm-of-your-hand

 

ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK:

https://kelsaybooks.com/collections/all

 

WATCH A VIDEO POEM, “Now That”:

https://youtu.be/5VOgDsSFb_g

 

Work-in-Progress

DC-area author Leslie Pietrzyk explores the creative process and all things literary.