Unbelievably, CSU Poetry
Center was one of the two places I ever sent my book. The other was Wave Books.
I dropped those two manuscripts in the mail at the same time, fully prepared
for the long road ahead of many more trips to the post office. I got so very
lucky.
Tell me about the title. Had it always been You Are Not Dead? Did it go through any
other changes?
It went through so many
title changes, all of which I kept in chronological order in a word document
that I am looking at now. Some funny (very real) highlights are:
STAR VERSUS SIDEWALK
SEVEN HORSES AND THE
OCEAN
IN LIEU OF A STUTTERING
LOVE LETTER
YELLOW PORCH POEMS
WE ARE BOTH SURE TO DIE
The few weeks before I
sent off the manuscript, I would run downstairs almost every day, to knock on
my friend Lech's door who lived in the apartment below me, trying out new
titles on him. He vetoed so many bad ones, and talked me through other
possibilities. Though it is only a matter of time I believe, waiting for a
book's correct title to reveal itself to its author. I like to say I had no
hand in it. Like letting your kids name themselves.
It seems like there’s a possible misconception
among some poets who are trying to get their first book published: that they
must win a contest. Were you concerned about winning a contest at any point?
What advice would you give to poets sending their book out now regarding
contests versus open reading periods?
I guess I was concerned with the possibility of
winning a contest, seeing as how I sent to one. The other place I sent was an
open reading period. But mostly, no, I don't feel that any aspect of the
first-book publication process should be prioritized over giving editors and
presses you deeply believe in the opportunity to read your book. Your
relationship with the contest ends when the contest ends. Your relationship
with that press and publisher/editor is only beginning. When I look in any
direction in my apartment, I see Cleveland State University Poetry Center
Books. I have loved and admired them for so long. If I could, I would have
driven to Cleveland and put my manuscript in Michael Dumanis' trash can, if it
meant he might read it. The delivery method shouldn't matter, what matters is
the dignity and love with which you're assured your book will be treated.
What was the process like assembling the book? How
many different versions did it go through as you were sending it out?
Many versions, many
evenings of collapsing in and among its pages on my living room floor. Kind
eyes of friends. Reminding myself to think less, intuit inter-poem
relationships more.
How involved were you with the design of the
book—interior design, font, cover, etc.?
I was given the
opportunity to be as involved or uninvolved as I wanted, which immediately made
me feel super comfortable. I do a tiny bit of book arts stuff myself for iO
Books, the chapbook micro-press I publish, so I wanted to stay in the loop, but
mostly my role was choosing between impossibly beautiful font pairings that Amy
Freels (CSU's designer) sent me over email. They made me feel so taken care of,
and they let me suggest tweaks and tiny revisions to things that were
so-close-to-perfect.
Did you suggest or have any input regarding the
image that was used on the cover?
CSU generously allowed me
to entirely choose the cover image, which is a collage by the wonderful Belgian
artist Jelle Martens.
A secret is that it also
appears on the cover of this beautiful contemporary collage book, Cutting Edges.
What about the publication of the actual poems in
journals and magazines prior to the book being published? Was there ever a
concern for you to have the majority of the poems published before you were
sending out your manuscript?
I mostly told myself I
would begin sending out the book when it felt like a unit. A good number of the
poems did end up finding homes in journals before that time, but, it was
something I (surprisingly) did not overthink.
How much work did you do as far as editing the
poems from the day you knew the book would be published to its final proofing
stage?
The book went through two
full cycles of editing, once for substantive edits, once for grammar. I learned
that I have almost never spelled a hyphenated word correctly. I spent a lot of
time on the phone with Frank Giampietro, CSU's interim director, pulling the
book through the long process. It was amazing. We explored possibilities for
almost every single poem, a better word here, a different line break here. The
level of detail and attention was unbelievable. In the end, I chose to change
or not change things based entirely on my own preference, and being given that
kind of agency was really heartening.
What do you remember about the day when you saw
your published book for the first time?
When the proof arrived in
the mail, I cried and touched it a lot. When they handed me a final copy at AWP
Boston, I made a series of absurd faces and I remember someone took my picture.
It's the worst photo I've ever taken. I was too happy to remember how to smile.
How has your life been different since your book
came out?
Oof, this question! For a
while after it came out, I couldn't write any poems. Then I gave up trying.
Then I stopped reading poetry altogether and just read novels for a while. The
poems came back though, as they always do. The plainer answer is that I've had
the opportunity to give more readings, meet more poets, and just generally
"do more poetry things." Publishing a book has also revealed to me a
desire to write slower. I feel calm, I feel like plodding along at a different
pace.
If you struck up a conversation next to someone
seated on an airplane, and after a few minutes you eventually told them that
you were an author who had a book of poetry published, how would you answer
their next question: “What’s the book about?”
This happened to me a few
months ago, on my way to Cleveland to read. I said "feelings." Then I
felt a little embarrassed, and offered something about "what happened to
me when I became displaced and moved somewhere new." They were very
satisfied with this second answer.
What have you been doing to promote You Are Not Dead, and what have those
experiences been like for you?
I made my best effort to
do a lot of readings since the book came out, and make it to things whenever I
could. Also the book was taught in a few classes last year at U. of Minnesota,
Florida State University, and UMass-Amherst. But that had nothing to do with my
efforts, it was all the kindness of other poets and writers. The experience of
being tied to a literature-object in the world has been humbling. I won't ever
get used to it.
In March I'm finally
going on a reading tour, basically a full year after the book was published.
It's "promotion" for the book, but it's also my best excuse for
getting in a car with my friends Brian Foley and Luke Bloomfield, whose
respective books will be out too, and driving around the country seeing faces.
What advice do you wish someone had given you
before your first book came out?
I wish more people would
have forced me to relax about aspects of the book coming out. It's amazing more
people didn't hang up on me during that time.
What influence has the book’s publication had on
your subsequent writing? Are there any new projects in the works?
My language and my poems
have been changing, and I'm working on some poems now that might eventually
become a thing. They haven't quite taken on thing-ness yet, but, I'm excited
about them.
Do you believe that poetry can create change in
the world?
Yes, always, yes.
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