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?
The poems in What Haunts Me
examine what is passed down through families and societies – what is inherited,
what we take with us as we age, and what we leave behind. How do we process and
come to terms with the centuries that have preceded us? The collection
interrogates how ancestries and beliefs serve as sparring partners within us as
we forge and discover our individual roles in shaping our own lives.
What boundaries did you break
in the writing of this book? Where does that sort of courage come from?
I broke the mental boundary of
believing that my writing path would be linear: I would work on one book, then
move on to the next book, then move on to the next book, and so on. Most of the
poems in this collection were actually written before the poems that appeared
in my first collection, The Scabbard of Her Throat, which was published
in 2013. Some of the poems in What Haunts Me are more than 20 years old.
I think this change in perspective helped me to allow myself to work on more
than one project simultaneously.
I don’t know if I’d call it
courage, but more of an acceptance of reality. I don’t put off working on a new
project idea simply because I am in the middle of something else. In fact, I
use this to my advantage – when I’m stalled in one project, I switch to a
different project. That way, I am at least making progress with something.
Tell us a bit about the highs
and lows of your book’s road to publication.
When I first started sending the
manuscript out in its earliest form as The Inheritance back in 2003, it
was a finalist and semi-finalist for several book contests. However, as the
years went on and I tinkered with it – adding new poems, removing others, and
changing the title multiple times – I think the manuscript lost its way.
Following the birth of my
daughter in 2005, I had started writing poems linked by a more cohesive theme that
really came together over the course of a few years, and I started sending out
that manuscript (The Scabbard of Her Throat) in 2009. It was then that I
gave up pitching the first manuscript and set it aside.
Following the publication of The
Scabbard of Her Throat in 2013, I moved with my family to Germany. My
writing expanded into travel articles, essays, and short fiction. I translated
several business books, as well as poems by German poets. I didn’t really look
back at my first poetry manuscript until about 2022, when I really reworked it
and settled on a new title. I began submitting it in earnest in 2023 – and only
to publishers who offered a free open reading period. April Gloaming Publishing
was one of the indie presses I sent an excerpt to that year. They requested the
full manuscript for What Haunts Me in February 2024 and made me an offer
four months later.
The whole experience taught me
that there was something the original manuscript had been lacking, and that I
needed the long break to really find the order and structure – and title – that
the book had been seeking all along.
What’s your favorite piece of
writing advice?
My favorite piece of writing
advice is actually the last two stanzas of the poem “Berryman,” by W.S. Merwin.
I had hardly
begun to read
I asked how can you ever be sure
that what you write is really
any good at all and he said you can’t
you can’t
you can never be sure
you die without knowing
whether anything you wrote was any good
if you have to be sure don’t write
It’s a little bit depressing,
but also freeing at the same time. And so I keep writing.
My favorite writing advice is
“write until something surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of
this book?
I honestly did not realize how
many ghosts and spirits would show up in it! As I was reading through the final
editing rounds with my publisher, I was also struck by how many of the poems
were inspired by photographs and how prominently those images imprinted
themselves in my mind.
How do you approach revision?
I love the editing process and
am always surprised by how many writers believe that if it doesn’t come out
perfect the first time, they need to throw it out and start over. I love trying
out different word combinations to see what kind of vibe or nuance they bring
to the poem. I also love researching word origins and alternate meanings to see
how a single word can serve to emphasize a theme or hint at a subversive
undercurrent. I also love writing an ending over and over and over dozens of
different ways – it seems to break down the inner censor and help me find a
totally unexpected image or turn.
Inquiring foodies and hungry
book clubs want to know: Any food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I
might share?)
This book is fortified with
pierogies, turkey neck soup, and pickled beets. The only thing I remember the
recipe for is the turkey neck soup, because it was so simple: put the turkey
neck and giblets in a pot with about 2 liters of water, 1 large carrot
(sliced), 1 onion (diced), 1 stalk of celery (diced), a couple of sprigs of
parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook all morning (from about 8am until early
afternoon) as you are preparing Thanksgiving dinner and have it at lunch to
tide you over until the big meal.
***
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS
AUTHOR: https://bernadettegeyer.com/
ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN
TBR STACK: https://aprilgloaming.com/shop/what-haunts-me/
READ A POEM FROM THIS BOOK, “A
Failed Romanticism”: https://electricliterature.com/after-vacation-id-like-to-come-home-to-ruin/
SUBSTACK: https://substack.com/@bernadettegeyer
