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?
Tracks in
Snow is a collection of
lyric poems inspired by my life as a biracial child in northern Appalachia and later
as an adult in New York. The poems focus on themes of alienation versus
belonging, closeness to nature, parenthood, and aging. Each poem contains telling
details—the flapping of a bird’s wing, the sound of a mantra, the smell of
charcoal briquettes—and a conceptual twist on the subject.
Which poem/s did you most
enjoy writing? Why? And which poem/s gave you the most trouble, and why?
I most enjoyed writing the poems
that have a strong sense of play. I’m aware of the shifting meanings of words,
my method is a sort of systematic free association. For example, in the opening
poem, “My Mother’s Name,” I look at my mother’s last name, Wang. It’s a surname
in both Chinese and Scandinavian. The Chinese Wang can mean “king.” The
Scandinavian Wang is derived from the Norse Vang, meaning “meadow.” Then there
is the assonant Lang or Liang, which in Norse means “tall.” My mother and I
cannot have that name because we are not tall people.
I also like to find the
unexpected in the predictable. In the poem “Activist,” for example, a couple of
young women try to prevent the clearing of trees next to New York’s East River.
I learn that one of them usually wears a deer’s head when she protests, but she
is not wearing it on this day because she doesn’t want to lose it. The women
are detained and put into a police car as “guys in fluorescent vests” approach
the trees with chainsaws. But the women aren’t daunted: They “saved four
trees.”
What was most difficult was
writing about loss. This can mean a response to the loss of a person, or it can
be a feeling of emptiness or loneliness. When I took on my brother’s passing in
a poem titled “Where My Brother Went,” I began with a question from our young
daughter: “Where is he now?” I couldn’t answer that question, so I let her
answer it. She says, after seeing his ashes scattered in the ocean, “He’s with
the whales and dolphins.”
Tell us a bit about the highs
and lows of your book’s road to publication.
The main task was assembling the
manuscript. I had a week at the Virginia Center
for the Creative Arts a couple of years ago and used that time to go
through a number of poems. I kept the ones that seemed the strongest and put
aside the weakest. I ended up with seventy poems, which I arranged in roughly
chronological order. I ended up with a more or less unified manuscript.
I don’t have an agent, so finding
a publisher was like shooting in the dark. I happened to see a submissions call
from Finishing Line Press, which had declined an earlier manuscript of mine. I was
surprised the publisher accepted this book. That was definitely a high. Then
began at least of year of gathering blurbs, photos, and cover art; announcing
presales; waiting for proofs; etc.
What’s your favorite piece of
writing advice?
My background is in fiction
writing (I’ve published five books of prose, three of poetry). My
graduate-school teacher John Barth said that you should have a baseline story.
You can improvise and riff off that baseline, but you should always come back
to the foundation.
My own advice is to do as many writing-related
things as you can: Take workshops, attend readings, go to conferences, reside
at colonies. Do these things in addition to sitting at your desk. If you
increase your connections, and your chances, something is bound come through.
My favorite writing advice is
“write until something surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of
this book?
Each poem offered a surprise in
the form of a new perception or understanding. The way I came to that result
was through trial and error. That’s a simple way of putting it. I have some
experience and purpose, and brought those to the process.
On a larger scale, the surprise
was that all of these individual poems added up to something. What they formed
was a picture of lifetime that is not so unusual, but that is filled with lived
moments.
How did you find the title of
your book?
I found the title of the book
through childhood memories of identifying animals by the tracks they left in
snow. I could recognize the tracks of deer, rabbits, squirrels, birds. . . . That
led to a poem, “Tracks in Snow,” on why a squirrel came to my family’s door and
left, probably because it couldn’t open the door and find food.
The title of this book also
follows the title of my previous book of poetry: Tricks of Light. The
two titles have the same meter, and “Tricks” and “Tracks” almost rhyme.
Inquiring foodies and hungry
book clubs want to know: Any food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I
might share?)
I’ve been making this salad
lately, served with garlic bread:
Spicy Summer Pasta Salad (from allrecipies.com)
Ingredients
2 cups rotelle pasta
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella
Directions
Step 1
Bring a large pot of lightly
salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al
dente; drain.
Step 2
In a large bowl, whisk together
the olive oil, vinegar, chili powder and parsley. Add the peppers and tomatoes
and stir to coat. Add the pasta and mozzarella and toss until evenly coated.
Chill until ready to serve
*****
READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: www.thaddeusrutkowski.com
READ MORE ABOUT THIS
PUBLISHER: https://finishinglinepress.com
ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR TBR
STACK:
https://finishinglinepress.com/product/tracks-in-snow-by-thaddeus-rutkowski/
READ A POEM, “A Moment,” FROM
THIS BOOK:
https://mantis.stanford.edu/thaddeus-rutkowski
