Established in 2018, TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books.
We don’t expect an elevator
pitch from a poet, but can you tell us about your work in 2-3 sentences?
This collection addresses our
troubled relationship with the non-human world, from which we cannot separate
ourselves; as others have noted, “Nature bats last.” While this book can be
seen as a twenty-first century addendum to the work of Robinson Jeffers, it
also records an attempt to view nature—Creation, if you will—through lenses
other than those of appetite and ambition.
What boundaries did you break
in the writing of this book? Where does that sort of courage come from?
Besides breaking through the
usual writerly boundaries of self-doubt and procrastination, I claimed new
intellectual territory for myself and began to find ways to describe it. In
short, I have moved beyond the fraying narrative of endless technological
progress fueled by cheap energy. As others have noted, we’re not getting our
jetpacks, and that’s just the beginning. We’re in for a bumpy ride, and denial
can only make things worse, especially for the vulnerable.
Expressing these concerns and
publicly grieving for the human and natural world may entail a degree of
courage, but I will leave that to others to decide. At any rate, people who
share or come to share those concerns should know that they are not alone in
having them, and that we are finding a language to address these issues.
Tell us a bit about the highs
and lows of your book’s road to publication.
One version or another of this
collection has been circulating for about ten years, so there have been a great
many lows—many undoubtedly deserved when the book hadn’t yet taken the right
form. There were plenty of flat-out rejections, and the manuscript never placed
as a finalist or semi-finalist in a competition. Along the way, though, I did
get a couple of rejections with encouraging words, and I kept revising the
manuscript.
In June of 2024, I finally got
the “yes” I was looking for. I had ordered a couple of collections from
Broadstone Books and liked their editorial judgment and their attention to the
physical quality of their books, so on a whim I sent them the collection. To my
surprise and delight editor Larry Moore accepted the manuscript, which roughly
fits in the category of ecopoetry and probably nowhere else. For most of that
summer, and occasionally since then, I’ve been reminded of the Iron & Wine-Fiona
Apple track “All
in Good Time.”
Since I’m retiring from my day
job at the end of September, there will be time to give this book the support I
think it deserves.
What’s your favorite piece of
writing advice?
At the Bread Loaf Writers’
Conference in 1992, William Matthews told me, “You’re still finding out what
you can do. Go home and write your ass off.” I can’t improve on that.
My favorite writing advice is
“write until something surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of
this book?
The poems in this book were
written over a span of more than twenty years, so I probably can’t remember all
the times I’ve been surprised. A poem’s coming to mind is always unexpected, as
are the moments of arriving at a final version after years of being stuck on
one or another detail.
Compiling and arranging the
poems had further unexpected results. The persistence of various themes and perspectives
reminded me of how the collection could only have come about after decades of
education and experience, with a few major shifts along the way. I was also
taken aback by seeing how much I’d been thinking about salamanders.
How did you find the title of
your book?
The title comes from the last line
of “Introit,” the collection’s first poem. The line sets up the collection’s
concerns with a strange and troubling world that we do not have to go on great
voyages to discover. It is finding us, whether we like it or not, even if our
lives take place within a tiny radius. In a changing climate, weather is more
unpredictable, and extreme events are occurring more frequently. The ranges of
wild plants and animals, and the hardiness zones for agriculture and gardening,
are changing accordingly. Whether I look at the Chicago area, where I was born
and raised, or Washington, DC, where I went to college and have lived as a
working adult since 2000, I no longer see the places I once knew.
Inquiring foodies and hungry
book clubs want to know: Any food/s associated with your book?
Food appears at several points
in the book, though most of it is of the kinds consumed by other species and
not very appealing to homo sapiens. Scavenging is important, but I can’t do it.
The book does, however, include ingredients: sugar, fish, coffee, sea jellies
(for the somewhat adventurous), and blue crab, to which I am apparently
allergic. My previous books have touched on more appetizing choices, and books
to follow will probably do so as well. Even if I can’t provide the rapturous
passages of Thomas Wolfe or Jim Harrison, there will be nibbles.
***
READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: www.jdsmithwriter.com
ORDER A COPY OF THIS BOOK FOR
YOUR TBR STACK: https://www.broadstonebooks.com/shop/p/the-place-that-is-coming-to-us-poetry-by-j-d-smith
~~~~Note:
Use discount code POETS24 for 20% off!~~~~
READ A POEM FROM THIS BOOK, “Dream
with Policy”: https://www.harvardreview.org/content/dream-with-policy/
SUBSTACK: https://jdsmith3.substack.com/
