Drew Myron

Fast Five with Donna Henderson

“Poetry and psychotherapy are about ‘discovery’ and that requires me to become deeply curious about our experience of humanness — our wounds, longings, losses, regrets, and hopes.”

Donna Henderson

Welcome to Fast Five, an occasional series in which I ask my favorite writers five questions as a way to open the door to know more.

Donna Henderson is a rare blend of creative accomplishment. She is a poet, writer, artist, singer, songwriter —and psychotherapist. Rooted in the arts, she is author of four poetry collections, two of which were named finalists for the Oregon Book Award. Her latest book, Send Word, published in 2022, is an evocative combination of poetry, art, and design.

Donna lives in Maupin, a town of 500 people situated along the Deschutes River in north-central Oregon.

1.
Why write?

I’m not sure I could have answered this question for the first few decades of my writing practice (that is, not with any answer that would not embarrass me to be connected with now!); all I knew was that I felt impelled to somehow, for (I understand now) the way writing organized and grounded something in me, from the very moment I began to be able to write words.

Writing let me feel seen in a family and a world at large in which I felt essentially unseen. I felt loved appreciated, to be sure, but not seen. And it wasn’t that I experienced writing as a way for me to be seen by others, I hasten to clarify: as a child, I didn’t share my writing anyway, and it wasn’t my purpose to. It was that writing gave me a way to hear my own voice, to register my own responses to the world (just as painting and drawing, which I also did from childhood, offered ways for me to see my own seeing). Like that, writing made it possible for me to see me.

Then, in 1975, as a student at Oregon College of Education (now Western Oregon University), I enrolled in a class in Craft of Poetry from George Slawson, in which I had a profound experience with language that I am still dazzled by, grateful for, and continue to be led and informed by in my poetry practice these 50 years hence. I remember that I was trying to render into a poem the experience of both being part of, and observing, women in the shower room after a PE class, when suddenly I felt language itself take over, the words as they arrived (“skin”…“steam”) plunging me more deeply into the pure experience and wonder of the moment than before language had been engaged. Such that the poem that resulted (slight as it was, I still like it!) was a record of an experience of that: of an experience of wonder and discovery, intensified and made more intimate by the engagement of language.

Which is when and why I felt in love with poetry, which has been my primary writing practice since (though the purpose of my prose writing is the same): not as a means of self-expression (whether that be of emotions or opinions), but rather an engagement with language that engages me more deeply with wonder and with the senses, to see what there is to be made and to be understood by way of that engagement.

Excerpt from title poem, Send Word, by Donna Henderson.

2.
You are an artist, singer, songwriter, poet and psychotherapist. What came first, and how did you develop and hone your skills?

Art came first, and was always there, and I credit my mother with that: she had five of us in quick succession, and while I experienced her as perpetually overwhelmed, and seeming to be more distracted than gratified by child-raising, creativity itself was her highest value (she herself was never happier than when writing, painting, playing the piano or dancing). So while we were expected to clean our rooms and help keep the house clean in general, the one place that never had to be cleaned up was the huge art table in the basement playroom, nor anyplace else that had to do with creative play.

Similarly, writing was just something we did in my family, (both my parents were journalists), so I suppose I started writing when I was given a diary at age five or so. And music was always a thing; mom played the piano, and both my parents loved music of all sorts, so I grew up listening and singing to music: it was just part of the water I swam in. So I really don’t remember a time that music, writing and art weren’t a part of my life, and I was fortunate that the public schools I attended valued and encouraged all of these also— I had some wonderful teachers! But I do think it is my mom to whom the most credit has to be given, and which was persistent throughout her life. I remember her unhesitating encouragement to me as an adult, when I was trying to decide whether or not to fork out the funds for a piano of my own (not really sure how ready I was to commit to actually playing it). “Of course you should buy it!” she told me. “Creativity, honey, it’s the most important thing.”

Later (and with each of the arts), I developed my skill by seeking out experiences of various kinds that would help me to learn the specific skills I wanted to learn. With poetry, I received that by attending summer writing workshops for many years, then an MFA (I graduated from Warren Wilson Program for Writers in 2006).

More recently,  after languishing for many years, my visual art has been experiencing a happy renaissance since the year of covid quarantine, when I started taking classes on Zoom with Eugene, Oregon artist Zoë Cohen, who has been an important mentor and teacher since. In fact, the two of us are going to co-teach a class at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in the fall of 2025, involving language and art practices.

As for psychotherapy: I have always enjoyed listening to others, and especially to (and for) how people cope with difficulty and make meaning and connection in their lives. So it kind of felt like a natural, I guess, to choose a profession based on that, and I went about learning to do it in the usual ways: school, graduate school, supervision, licensure, and (most importantly) a lot of great mentorship, continuing ed, and a wonderful network of wise colleague-friends, over the almost 40 years since I began practicing.

The practice itself of psychotherapy actually feels very much like simply another genre of creative work, in the way I practice it anyway. Because while poetry is commonly thought of as being about “self-expression,” and the objective of therapy as being “self-improvement,” I actually understand both poetry and psychotherapy to be about “discovery.” And that requires me to become —and to remain—deeply curious about our experience of humanness — our wounds, longings, losses, regrets, and hopes — with my clients, and to engage in that curiosity through language. And while psychotherapy typically begins with the stories clients carry about who they are and why they are that way, the actual process of therapy involves inviting clients to step off from there into what is unknown and unseen: to become more curious than certain themselves.

So I guess that you could say that “seeing and being seen” is what art, writing and psychotherapy all engage in…and it’s why I got into all of them!

Excerpt from title poem, Send Word, by Donna Henderson.

3.
You co-founded
Airlie Press, a collective poetry publisher. Why? And what have you learned through the process?

I’ll be briefer with this one (you’re welcome!): In the early 2000s, I’d been a member of a long-running writing group, most of the members of which had manuscripts of poems “circulating” (looking for a home).

But books of poetry are particularly difficult to place, since poetry does not make money for publishers, so there are fewer presses that publish it than that publish other genres. Because of that, a manuscript of poems, no matter its quality, has something like a 1% (or even less) chance of being accepted for publication by a press. On top of that, for poetry presses to even cover their costs of publication when they are unlikely to make much of a return, they charge a reading fee of around $25 for submissions. Given the number of presses one ought to submit to to increase the chances of an acceptance, a poet can (and we each did) easily spend $500 a year on submitting, with close to no chance of a bite.

So (to make a longer story much shorter) one of us proposed dedicating our time and funds instead toward starting a collective, shared-work press run by poets, based on the model of some others (Alice James, and Sixteen Rivers Press in particular), beginning with publishing each of our own completed manuscripts, and then opening to submissions by other poets who (if their manuscripts were accepted) would be willing to make a 3-year commitment to the work of the press.

It was a tremendously gratifying venture, and while I am no longer involved in the editorial work of the press (I currently serve on the Board of Directors) , I could not be more proud of how the press has thrived — it’s going on 17 years now, and continues to produce beautiful books of poetry (I think something like 40 titles to date), representing an increasingly diverse array of poetic voices.

Perhaps the biggest thing I learned from the experience was that the editors at Sixteen Rivers (who mentored and advised us) were right when they warned us not to try to start a press with fewer than seven initial members. Only four of us were up for it, so we decided to go ahead with it anyway and…well, burnout of the original members from active involvement was ultimately unavoidable, I think. A press is a LOT of work! I would not try it again with fewer than six compatriots, but oh what a splendid vision and venture it was, and (thanks to the dedicated work of the member-poets who have kept it going) and is!

 4.
What’s the best writing advice you’ve received (or given)?

Here are three pieces that come to mind: one is from one of my mentors in graduate school, Karen Brennan, and is particular to poetry: “Remember,” she said, “poetry is not made out of ideas, poetry is made out of lines.” which  advice keeps me grounded in letting language, and not concepts, lead.

Another great piece of advice comes in the form of the poem, Berryman by W.S. Merwin.

 And the third? In his book Mere Christianity (I think that’s where I read it) C.S. Lewis wrote, “I pray not because it changes God; I pray because it changes me.” That’s why I write, and what I urge other writers to focus on: the practice and the process, not the product. Paradoxically, the more I remember that, the truer (therefore better) my work becomes.

“Creativity, honey, it’s the most important thing.”

5.
I’m a word collector, are you too? What are your favorite words?

Here are a few: mimulus, gloom, cluster, pandemonium.

Also antidisestablishmentarianism, though only because it is (or was, when I was a child) the longest word in the dictionary, and because it gave my father endless delight that I could spell it (as I was often called on to do) when I was five, following his fervent tutoring to that very end.

 

Fast Five with Paul Nelson

“Writing ought to be a way to learn about the self. To build a soul.”

Paul Nelson

Welcome to Fast Five, an occasional series in which I ask my favorite writers five questions as a way to open the door to know more.

Paul E. Nelson is a prolific poet, interviewer, broadcaster, and collaborator. As founder-director of the Cascadia Poetics LAB and Cascadia Poetry Festival, he has created and produced hundreds of events and interviews with poets and activists.

He co-created the Poetry Postcard Fest, an annual worldwide literary event and self-guided practice in spontaneous composition in which participants send 31 original poems on postcards to a list of recipients. Now in its 18th year, the Fest includes 600 poets from 52 states and 10 countries.

Paul has authored over a dozen books, including, A Time Before Slaughter, American Sentences, 56 Days of August: Poetry Postcards, and many more.

He lives in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of Seattle, Washington.

1.
How did you come to writing?

I was a broadcaster for 26 years and did writing for many of the jobs I had in radio from 1980-2006. After 1990 I produced a weekly radio interview program and in January 1994, I began syndicating that to as many as 18 stations a week. I wrote the introductions and questions and conducted the interviews. I also did post-production, wrote promotional announcements and underwriting credits. Once in syndication, I started interviewing poets, Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Diane di Prima, Joanne Kyger, Wanda Coleman, Ed Sanders, Anne Waldman, Eileen Myles, Jerome Rothenberg, Victor Hernandez Cruz and many others. What a rush to put poetry on the air at major radio stations, though the time of day it aired was not the highest rated time slot. Inspired by these and other poets, I started writing poetry and attending the weekly Red Sky Poetry Theater open mic.

2.
Why did you create the Poetry Postcard Fest?
 

I had participated in the 3:15 Experiment for a few years but found the time of writing (3:15am every day in August) inconvenient. I loved the notion of having a writing project that would be conducted in August and told Lana Ayers, who was in my weekly writing critique group, about wanting to do something with postcards and she said: “I’ll help.” She did and then August turned into 56 days from July 6 to August 31. I did it in part to give folks the experience of spontaneous composition, but the fest unfolds its depth year after year, from the making of cards, to the graphic experience, to the community aspect, to the love of stamps and support of USPS (a huge part of The Commons), to being an antidote to social acceleration, and many, many other aspects.

3.
Please tell us about organic poetry.

Organic Poetry is a term used by Denise Levertov and Robert Duncan in the middle of their 20+ year correspondence. In her foundational essay “Some Notes on Organic Form” Levertov wrote: “it is a method of apperception . . . recognizing what we per­ceive . . . based on an intuition of an order, a form beyond forms, in which forms partake . . . Such po­etry is exploratory . . . words which connote a state in which the heat of feeling warms the intellect.”

Similar concepts are known as “Projective Verse” and “The Practice of Outside.” These are all different takes on a spontaneous approach to poetry in which first take, or something close to the first take of a poem, is used and not extensive revision. Levertov noted that if extensive revision is required it is likely that the poem did not incubate long enough. How each poem written like this finds its own form is quite satisfying to me. My graduate thesis was a group of essays on the subject, which can be found here, along with other essays which in one way or another are related to this topic. The Poetry Postcard Fest is designed so people can have an experience of this kind, with deep attention to, and trust in, the moment of composition. It is a method which, at its best, allows for a connection to something larger than ego.

4. 
You’ve
interviewed hundreds of poets, artists, and activists. What have you learned? 

I learned that Allen Ginsberg’s approach to composition was similar to meditation; that Jean Houston believes this is Jump Time and that we are “the people of the parenthesis” existing after the death of the old gods and before the birth of the new; from Joanne Kyger that we can learn how to write projectively; from Michael McClure that “if poetry and science cannot change one’s life, they’re meaningless”; from Bhagavan Das that our time is so potent that three days spent in meditation, or some other kind of devotional activity now, would have the same impact of 30 years of practice a century ago; from Father Matthew Fox that ritual will be a growth industry in the 21st century; from Nate Mackey that serial form in poetry may be the most open art form ever invented; from Brenda Hillman that we have permission to be strange; from Christina Baldwin that people gathering in a circle have access to the circle’s ancient powers; from Sam Hamill that our lives change when we take a Bodhisattva vow to poetry; from Peter Berg that we live on this land like invaders and that a bioregional ethos would change that, change our own selves and save the biosphere one bioregion at a time; and so on and so on . . .

5. 
What’s the best writing advice you’ve received?

Various versions of the notion that abstractions and generalizations are used to cover something up, in poetry, usually a deeper gesture. “Abstractions have to be earned,” said Ezra Pound. Charles Olson warned about “the dodges of discourse” and about how Western Culture has abstracted itself from the very land on which it exists, which is at the core of our climate crisis right now and again validates my interest in bioregionalism.

 Bonus Question: What do you wish I would have asked?

What is your ultimate goal in writing, or your reason for writing?

Writing ought to be a way to learn about the self. To build a soul. So many “award-winning poets” are unhappy, shallow or unpleasant people. I wonder why that is so? I suspect that by chasing fame, they strengthen their egos and, as Brenda Hillman said: “the ego project is doomed to fail.” What writing project is NOT doomed to fail?

I think the Saturation Job, the multi-decade research project, the project tied to place and tied to history of that place is bound to teach the poet something about the world and likely something about their own self. Poetry is so far out of the mainstream, to use mainstream (capitalist) objectives when considering the “success” of poetry, that is a tact that is doomed to fail.



Fast Five with Susan Blackaby

“Writing . . . is like a magic trick, and it never gets old.”

Susan Blackaby

Welcome to Fast Five, an occasional series in which I ask my favorite writers five questions as a way to open the door to know more.

It’s difficult to visualize the vast number of books Susan Blackaby has authored. Even she’s lost count. “Hundreds,” she says with a quick wave of the hand. An Amazon search yields more than 90 titles, representing only a portion of her portfolio.

In a career spanning 40 years, Susan has written hundreds of fiction and nonfiction books for early and struggling elementary and middle school readers, along with numerous textbooks, workbooks, and school curriculum.

Her books have sparked enthusiasm among both young readers and literacy leaders. School Library Journal has called her work “endearing and delightful.”  In 2002, the Washington Post named Rembrandt's Hat one of the top ten picture books of the year.

A prolific author, some of Susan's notables include, Where’s My CowBrownie Groundhog and the February Fox, G.O.A.T: Simone BilesCleopatra: Egypt’s Last and Greatest Queen; and an award-winning collection of poetry, Nest, Nook & Cranny

Susan lives in Oregon, on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River. When not writing for work, Susan (Suz to friends) writes for fun. She’s a published poet, and is currently working on a young adult novel.

1.
In a previous interview you’ve said: “I’m always writing for the little kid in the back row who is afraid to raise his hand. I feel for the fourth-grade kids who can’t read at all — these are the kids who feel defeated by school and are about to slip out of the system.” Was school difficult for you, and how can we (as writers, readers, caring adults) encourage struggling students?

I struggled with numbers and met my Waterloo in 8th grade algebra, a disaster matched only by high school chemistry. I made up for my shortcomings with a knack for words, which eventually landed me a job in educational publishing.

When my daughter had trouble learning to read, I picked up a stack of trade books ostensibly designed to support early literacy and assumed that cracking the code was within easy reach. It wasn’t. For days we tested each other’s limits sentence by sentence, working along until one of us completely lost it. After a particularly brutal afternoon, I finally took the time to analyze the materials. The book she was trying to get through had a turtle on the cover, the demoralizing slowpoke indicating Pre-K, but the readability score on the text came in at a fifth grade reading level. One sentence on a page in oversized type was apparently the extent of the criteria used to arrive at an arbitrary and misleading standard, guaranteeing frustration and failure for kids who really require conscientious support. (This infuriating book is still in print, by the way.) I circled back to get my daughter resources she could use and switched professional gears at the same time.

These days, books bundled with basal reading programs, online resources developed by educational publishers, and books developed by school-library crossover publishers adhere to strict guidelines based on sound pedagogy, and many classroom teachers have handy access to these resources—you just have to ask for help. Understanding that brain development, maturity, physical health, experience, and exposure to storytelling are all factors in the learning process can help provide a critical foundation for a fledgling reader—and equal parts patience and chocolate milk won’t go amiss.

2.
What books, movies, songs, or people have influenced your professional life — and how? 

In addition to having some really special, gifted teachers along the way, I have been lucky enough to stumble into one snug after another populated by generous mentors—patient and exacting, kind and encouraging. Many of them have stuck with me long enough to transition from coach to colleague to cohort and are now among my closest, oldest, and dearest friends. Given that a deep appreciation for and understanding of talking rabbits is part of the job description, it is no surprise that the people who create books for children comprise an inherently merry band.

Even luckier, I came from a family of clever, silly, funny, sweet people who provided a firm foundation of mirth and curiosity, whimsy and joy. I owe them everything.

3. 
Your writing life is so rich and varied, from textbooks to children's books to poetry and more.
What has been your highpoint, and why?

Everything about getting a book published is a pretty heady experience, and there have been some unforgettable moments. But the very best part is sitting down with your picture book and a bunch of little people, knowing that in a single page turn you can make all of them fall over laughing at the exact same time. It is like a magic trick, and it never gets old.

4. 
What’s the best writing advice you’ve received?

Dump a toxic friend.

A number of years ago, having been to dozens of writing conferences, I was not really paying close attention to the charming if predictable keynote speech when this surprising and transformative phrase rang out. The speaker went on to explain that these people crowd your creative energy and take up tons of time, two things that you can actually put to excellent and immediate use if you are carving out a writing life. Of all the million bits of wisdom I’ve collected and tried, this one actually works.

5.
I’m a word collector. What are your favorite words?

I’m definitely a word collector. Favorites tend to shift and jostle with context, season, and whim but perennial favorites include radiance, grace, clatter, faith, resilience, wander, conjure, thump, wink.

Bonus Question: What do you wish I would have asked?

What are your musts and favorites?

Strong, milky tea; narrow-ruled yellow tablets; extra-firm Blackwing pencils; Lamy Safari fine-tipped fountain pen; snail mail; stargazer lilies; corduroy pants; the perfect raincoat (ongoing quest); cool boots; road trips; Cheezits.

Fast Five with Alejandro Jimenez

“I believe writing, narratives, and stories can change the world.”

Alejandro Jimenez

Welcome to Fast Five, in which I ask my favorite writers five questions as a way to open the door to know more.

Alejandro Jimenez is a formerly-undocumented immigrant, poet, writer, and educator from Colima, Mexico. As a writer, his work centers on the intersection of cultural identity, race/ethnicity, immigrant narratives, masculinity, and memory. He is the 2021 Mexican National Poetry Slam Champion, and a two-time National Poetry Slam Semi-Finalist in the U.S.

His work, and personal story, are the subject of the short documentary, American Masters: In The Making, a PBS series highlighting emerging cultural icons. 

Alejandro is author of Moreno Prieto Brown, a chapbook that explores growing up as an undocumented immigrant in the U.S. His first full-length poetry book, There will be days, Brown boy, was published in September 2023.

Alejandro grew up working with his family in the orchards of Oregon’s Hood River Valley, then moved to Denver, Colorado where he worked with youth. He now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

1. 
Why write?

I write because it helps me to process and name feelings, experiences, and injustices that I see or have experienced. I write to not forget and not be forgotten. I write to connect with myself and others. I write because I feel alone and maybe through this I can connect with someone or someone will connect with me. I believe writing, narratives, and stories can change the world. I write because I want to really, really, really believe the last sentence.

2.
What books, movies, songs, or people have influenced your writing life — and how? 

Eduardo Galeano and how he tackles memory and historical amnesia is a huge influence of mine!

The movie, Ya No Estoy Aqui, cracked me open and made me feel so validated in how I experience and feel about Mexico and the US.

Layli Long Soldier is amazing! Her readings should be a bucket list item for all of us! 

3. 
What’s the best writing advice you’ve received?

I cannot remember who said this but, I try to be okay with not writing. The amount of writing one produces does not determine our worth as writers. For example, answering these questions is the most I have written in a while! Do not feel guilty for taking extensive breaks from writing!

4.
I'm a word collector — what are your favorite words? 

Here are some of my favorites, all in Spanish: acurrucar, apapachar, moler, murmullar, suspirar, parparear, flujo, and encender. 

5.
What question do you wish I would ask?

Why didn't you ask me about my favorite corrido, Drew?! My favorite corrido, currently, is Catarino y Los Rurales. It is fun to sing and dance to it and the actual story behind the song is equally as amazing about a campesino who fought against greed, capitalism, state sanctioned violence against poor people, and really set the stage for the Mexican Revolution of the early 1900s.

There will be days, brown boy by Alejandro Jimenez is available now. Buy the book here.

In his debut full-length poetry collection, Alejandro takes readers on a journey of self-discovery and introspection as he grapples with the profound concept of home.

Hanif Abdurraqib [ another of my favorite writers ] calls the book “a collection of enveloping tenderness.”


Fast Five with January Gill O'Neil

"Nothing fulfills me more than putting pen to paper.”

January Gill O’Neil

Welcome to Fast Five, in which I ask my favorite writers five questions as a way to open the door to know more.

January Gill O’Neil is the author of three poetry books and is an associate professor of English at Salem State University. She was the 2019-2020 Grisham Writer in Residence at University of Mississippi and has earned fellowships from Cave Canem, and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. She serves on the boards of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP), and Montserrat College of Art. January lives in Massachusetts with her two children.

1. 
Why write?

I can’t imagine not writing. Recently, I was asked what are my hobbies, and while I think of writing and, specifically, poetry as a vocation, I couldn’t come up with any. Not really. I’ve tried baking and walking and birding. And while I like all of those activities, nothing fulfills me more than sitting down and putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). 

[ Read In The Company Of Women here]

2.
What do you enjoy about writing and teaching?

Long ago, I decided that writing and family (in that order) would be at the center of my life. So the work I do is an extension of that. To talk about poetry for a living to students, to volunteer my time in the arts community, to mentor other writers — all of that fuels my writing. I may be one of the few who enjoys the business of poetry. 

The last few years have been about navigating my kids through their teenage years, which has been a joy and a pain. More joy than pain, however! It’s bittersweet to think that I am raising my kids to not need me. But I’m very proud of son Alex, 17, and daughter Ella, 15. They are finding their way in this world and I look forward to whatever their futures bring. 

As with many families, we’ve spent a lot of time together during the pandemic. In 2019-2020, we lived in Mississippi while I was on fellowship at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. It was an eye-opening experience, one that still influences our lives in Massachusetts today. 

[ Read On Being Told I Look Like FLOTUS here ]

3. 
Which non-literary piece of culture — film, tv show, painting, song — has influenced you?

Since my time in Mississippi, I have spent a great deal of time learning about the landscape, culture, legacy of slavery in the Deep South. Much of my most recent work has been about Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy who was brutally beaten, lynched, and killed in 1955. His story grows with relevancy with each year. Till’s story is more relevant than ever before, and I believe the work of advancing racial equity through poetry and the arts is urgent and necessary.

I want to create environments of inclusion and equity on the page, in the arts, and in my local community. 

[Musically] David Byrne’s American Utopia got me through the uncertainty of 2020. Now I’m listening to Love & Hate by Michael Kiwanuka, and Cypress Grove by Jimmy “Duck” Holmes.   

4. 
Is there a book you wish you had written?

I don’t really think of books like that. I’m happy those great works are in the world. That being said, we need to decolonize the Canon.

[Note: What does this mean? Start here.]

5.
I'm a word collector — what are your favorite words? 

Let’s see . . . dark, circle, serendipity, pleasure

Also, Yo! and OK.  

Fast Five with Penelope Scambly Schott

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"I believe that every person has a true landscape of the soul and that some of us are lucky enough to find that place.”

Penelope Scambly Schott

Welcome to Fast Five, in which I ask my favorite writers five questions as a way to open the door to know more.

Penelope Scambly Schott is the author of over a dozen poetry books, a novel, and a “slightly fictional canine memoir.” She has earned an Oregon Book Award and numerous other literary achievements. She splits her time between two Oregon towns: the city of Portland to the west, and the small farm town of Dufur to the east.

1. 
Let’s start with your most pressing and poetic theme: Dufur, Oregon.

I have a love affair with the small (population: 623) central Oregon town of Dufur. I’ve had my house here for ten years and each year I become more attached to the community. (I’ve bought a plot in the local cemetery so that even though I wasn’t born here I can be dead here.) I’ve published a chapbook called Lovesong for Dufur and, just this spring, On Dufur Hill, a full-length collection of poems about the cycle of a year here.

[ Read excerpts from On Dufur Hill here.]

I believe that every person has a true landscape of the soul — be it beach, mountains, whatever — and that some of us are lucky enough to find that place. I grew up in New York City as a free range child (remember those?) but have never again felt so at home as I do here. When local kids see me walking with my dog Sophia they yell out, “Hi, Penelope,” and when the dog and I step into the post office past the “No Dogs Allowed” sign, Sophia stands up at the counter and Dave or Mike will give her a biscuit.

2.
Why write?

Because I can’t help it? Because when I was a tiny child just learning to speak I stood up in my crib and spoke sentences? Because it’s too lonesome to have words in my mind that I can’t share? I could say that I write, as in putting the words on paper, because, unlike Homer and other bards, my memory isn’t good enough to compose and recite without a crib sheet. And that’s not just a joke; I am obsessed with the sounds of language. Most of my poems originate with a line or two coming into my head as I am out walking, usually climbing Dufur Hill which I do every morning. Something about the rhythm of walking triggers spoken language. I repeat the line or lines all the way down the hill and then when I get home I write them down and continue with the rest of the poem. Maybe writing is my way of coping with noticing and feeling.

schott-dufur.jpg

3. 
Tell us about your professional life. What do you enjoy about teaching?

I got my Ph.D. as a union card. I was a single mother with two kids and I had to do something to feed them. It was only when I started teaching that I discovered I actually liked it. I like: figuring something out clearly enough to explain it, learning from my students, making an emotional connection with each student, hoping I am useful. What I especially like about leading poetry workshops is how quickly we become a community.

 On my resume I’ve been a college professor and a workshop leader, but for many years I also had jobs on the side. I worked as an artist’s model which taught me a lot about art and also that a body is just a thing. The most meaningful non-teaching job I’ve had was the five years I worked as a home health aide. I had felt I needed to learn more about old age and dying, and I sure did. Although I was treated with more respect as Professor Schott, I may have been more useful as “the girl from the agency.”

4. 
Which non-literary piece of culture — film, tv show, painting, song — has influenced you?

I grew up without a television and never learned to watch. I see very few movies. The songs that have been important to me are not popular music but old Scottish ballads. Perhaps the biggest influence on me was the art I saw as a child when my mother took me regularly to the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. I remember being completely freaked out by Picasso’s painting Guernica showing the consequences of war. I can still hear that horse screaming. I was also greatly affected by a Giacometti sculpture called The Palace at 4 a.m. which was full of inexplicable mystery. I think I could trace much of my writing to those two pieces of art.

5.
Is there a book you wish you had written?

When I was a girl that book was Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden for its discovery of the unknown. Now it might be any of the poets who write very short and unforgettable gems — maybe some of the Chinese poets of the Tang dynasty or the wonderful one-line pieces by the Greek poet Yannis Ritsos as translated by my friend Paul Merchant in Monochords.

Bonus Question: What are your favorite words?

Almost anything with a B or a P or a K. I love making those sounds. 

Poke, kitchen, spit, slump, noncombustible. 

Of course there are also wonderful words like interrogatory and flat. 

Hey, I guess I love ‘em all.



Fast Five with Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

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"The poem is not the point; the poem is simply the byproduct of showing up to be wrestled by the world and by language.”

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Welcome to Fast Five, in which I ask my favorite writers five questions as a way to open the door to know more.

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer is the author of 12 poetry collections and her work has appeared in O Magazine, on A Prairie Home Companion, on fences, in back alleys, and on river rocks she leaves around the banks of the San Miguel River near her home in southwest Colorado.

She served as San Miguel County’s first poet laureate from 2007 to 2011 and as Western Slope Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017, and teaches and performs poetry for addiction recovery programs, hospice, mindfulness retreats and more.

An advocate of the power of practice, Rosemerry has written a poem every day since 2006.

1. 
For nearly 15 years, you've written a poem a day, and shared it on your blog. Can you tell us about your process?

I write at night, usually, after everyone has gone off to their own quiet space in our house. And I sit with a blank page and I wait to see what happens. If it stays blank a long time, I start to sift for ideas. I might look around the room and let my eyes land on an object. Or think about an interaction from the day. Or I might read poems and find something in them that thrills me and then give myself a prompt based on a line or an idea. Or I might read the news. Or look at an image. Or think of someone I want to write a letter . . . so many ways to begin a poem! 

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I don't feel pressure to produce but I do feel the ever present invitation to practice — which feels fundamentally different to me as a motivation. The poem, ironically, is not the point — the poem is simply the byproduct of showing up to be wrestled by the world and by language. The point is the showing up and, as Rilke said, the “being defeated decisively by constantly greater beings.” That’s why I write every day. It changes everything about who I am and how I meet the world.   

2. 
Who has influenced your writing life? 

So many people! Today the first who comes to mind is Art Goodtimes, a paleo-hippie, fungi obsessed, potato-growing wild man poet. When I first moved to Telluride in 1994, he said, “Give me some poems.” And I shared a few and he said something like, “These are nice. I wonder what would happen if you relaxed?”

Wonderful advice. I was writing such tightly wound, cryptic poems. And it was a revelation, too, to watch him perform—he used his whole body and his whole vocal range of volume and intensity. I remember staring at a picture of him with his arm raised while reading a poem and I thought, “How does he do that?” And so I began to experiment . . .

Perhaps most importantly, Art introduced me to a poetry community—sitting in a circle, passing a talking gourd, listening to each other. It was so different from the red-pen-stained critique circles I’d been in before. This community was intent on listening, really listening to each other. Not to point out what was wrong with each other’s poems, but to hear the humanity inside them. I am so crazy grateful for Art, who has been my partner in teaching and organizing and performing and human-ing for 26 years. 

3.
What advice would you offer new or struggling writers?

Something I once heard David Lee say: "Surround yourself by writers who are better than you are." 

4.
I'm a word collector, are you? What are your favorite words

sometimes 

(So symmetrical! An s on both ends, then a vowel, then an m, with that slender cross of the t in the center, ah!! Because of my passion for this word, when I was in 8th grade my priest gave me a book of e.e. cummings poetry for confirmation, a gift that opened my eyes to what poems might do.)

perhaps

(I love the softening effect it has on anything that comes after it.)

blossom

 (Both the verb and the noun—this word is like a magnet. I have to force myself not to use it all the time, but it always seems like exactly the right word to me.)

yes

(Perhaps I love using this word too much.)

 and then a host of single syllable Anglo-Saxon-ish words with punch, such as wretch, flunk, slink, scum, wreck, spook, scram, splat, pluck, plunk, scrap, fluke, snatch . . .

5.
In the difficult days, what keeps you going? 

Morsels of beauty & scraps of joy: The scent of the river. Falling off my chair at dinner because I am laughing so hard. Sunflowers in the garden. Erik Satie. Poems by James Crews. Sitting under the stars with friends. Walking alone in the woods. I follow these moments like a crumb trail. Devour them. Sniff for the next crumb.

Bonus Question: What has changed about your process?

My relationship to the blank. A white page used to scare me, stare me down. Now it feels like an encouragement to step into infinite potential. Every time I sit down with a blank, I wonder what might happen. Something! 

• Buy Hush, Rosemerry’s latest book here.

• Learn more about Rosemerry:
TEDxPaonia
Rattle Magazine Podcast


Fast Five with Theresa Wisner

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"I have a dogged determination to keep going; to not be a quitter." 

— Theresa Wisner

Welcome to Fast Five, in which we ask a writer five questions to open the door to know more.

Theresa Wisner lives on the central Oregon Coast and works aboard Oceanus, an Oregon State University research vessel. Hailing from a family of commercial fishermen, as a young woman she went to sea to both continue the family tradition and prove her own fortitude. In her memoir and literary debut, Daughter of Neptune, Theresa blends seafaring adventure with family dynamics in a story of personal and professional self-discovery.

1. 
Daughter of Neptune is a powerful story of family, addiction, and perseverance in an industry dominated by men. What prompted you to tell your story?

I sometimes think that the goal was to write a story, and the events came along to give me a story to write about. I don’t know that I ever thought, I’m going to write a book about this one day, but from my earliest memories I’ve wanted to write. 

2.
In your memoir of working at sea, you reveal the fears and insecurities that led to your alcoholism. Why was this important for you to share, and in the face of struggle, what keeps you going?   

Quitting drinking was, by far, the biggest challenge of my life. There were people who showed me it could be done. I wanted to be brutally honest in my struggle, and in so doing, let someone who might be struggling know there is hope, even in the darkest time. I wish I could say that there was something inspirational in me that kept and keeps me going. I think it’s solely a dogged determination to keep going; to not be a quitter. 

3.
What’s the best writing advice you’ve received?

Write. Really. Just write. Sit my tail in a chair and write. It seems so easy, but it’s difficult to practice. There is always something that can, and often does, call me away. Even if I have nothing to write, the act of sitting in front of the computer or paper brings the story to me, it doesn’t come from living my life. It comes from having the intent to write. More dogged determination!

4.
What books or authors have shaped your life? 

Although I don’t read him much any more, Stephen King shaped much of my desire to be concise about description, and evoking emotion from it. The Stand, in particular. Theodore Dreiser and Tolstoy were big in my early years. More recent work is Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, and Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy. I love the simplicity of these works. Isabel Allende is simply brilliant. There are so many more, but these come to the top of my head. 

5.
I’m a word collector and keep a running list of favorite words. What are your favorite words?

As a Pacific Northwest gal, I love a couple of words:

Pluviophile: one who loves the rain.

Petrichor: the smell of the first rain. 

Bonus Question: What question did I not ask that you wish I had? 
I’m currently working on a book of fiction that puts a young woman on Ernest Shackleton's failed Antarctic Expedition. I don’t know if I’ll keep Shackleton’s name, but the story has intrigued me since I worked in Antarctica. 


• Buy Daughter of Neptune at Amazon

• Learn About Theresa:
Coming to terms with being the Daughter of Neptune - Oregon State University magazine

Fast Five with Patricia Bailey

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“I feel better on
the days I write. Happier. Clearer. 
I’m unsettled when I’m not writing." 

 — Patricia Bailey
author of The Tragically True
Adventures of Kit Donovan

Welcome to Fast Five Interviews, where we ask five questions to open the door to know more:

Patricia Bailey — Trish — lives in Klamath Falls, Oregon, a small town in southern Oregon. Her debut novel, The Tragically True Adventures of Kit Donovan tells the story of a sharp and spunky 13-year-old girl who defies age and gender expectations to stand up for what’s right.

The young adult novel has earned numerous accolades, including 2018 Oregon Book Award for Children’s Literature, the Oregon Spirit Award from the Oregon Council of Teachers of English, and the 2018 Willy Literary Award from Women Writing the West. 

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1.
Are you Kit?

Not nearly enough to suit me. She’s far braver and way more outspoken than I am. She’s also much more likely to say what she thinks regardless of the consequences. She’s kind of my hero. 

2.
How did you come to writing?  

Slowly. Or rather I should say I came to see myself as a writer slowly. When I was kid I realized that sorting out my thoughts on paper and making up stories was fun – more fun for me than it was for many of the people I went to school with. I liked trying to get each sentence just right. I enjoyed the buzz I got when I found just the right word. In college I discovered that my classmates and friends seemed to like to read what I wrote – that I could make them laugh or make them sad or make them think with my words. It wasn’t until much later that I realized I could write outside of a classroom assignment. It was later still when I realized that the real writers that I admired were just ordinary people who wrote – not magical, mythical creatures – and that with hard work and persistence I might actually become one too. 

3.
What writers or books have most strongly influenced you?  

This shifts for me almost day-to-day, depending on what I’m thinking and what I’m currently working on. That said, I think the one book that stands out for me the most is Pam Houston’s Cowboys Are My Weakness. I remember finding it at a bookstore when I was in college and devouring it. It was the first book I read that felt familiar. I knew these people. I’d been to these places. I had stories like this. It was the very first hint that maybe I had things to say that people would read. That my stories might actually matter too. 

4.
What’s the best writing advice you’ve received?

I’m a slow writer, so I think the best advice I’ve gotten is to just take the time you need to get the story right. I’d love to be able to write a quick draft and go from there, but it just doesn’t work for me. Remembering that my process is my process and it takes how long it takes is helpful when I’m feeling old and overwhelmed.

5.
Writing — and publishing — can be difficult work. In the face of challenge, what keeps you going? 

I think the act of writing does. I feel better on the days I write. Happier. Clearer. I’m unsettled when I’m not writing. So, if I can remember that the act of writing makes me happy - no matter how hard the day is – and focus on just that part, the other worries seem to shrink a bit.

Bonus Question
I’m a word collector and keep a running list of favorite words. What are your favorite words?

Glimmer, jellyfish, moon, smarmy, moxie, shiver, loaf, and about a million more I can’t recall just know. I really should keep a list.