Interviewed by Wesley Williams
Sandra Simonds is the author of several chapbooks as well as the founder of Wildlife, an experimental, handmade poetry magazine. Simonds earned her bachelor’s degree in English and psychology from the University of California and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Montana. She is currently studying creative writing in the doctoral program at Florida State University. Her first book of poetry is Warsaw Bikini.
Q: In much of your poetry, you make intriguing use of scientific terms and other specific terminology. What drives you to do that?
A: Part of poetry is taking something foreign or alien and making it familiar; it’s part of understanding the world. Words aren’t just tags for me; they mean something more than just their titles. I love language and the sounds of words that I don’t fully understand. Scientific language and specificity enriches the poem. I grew up speaking French and English, so knowing that there are many words to describe one thing also plays into that. It gives language a kind of mystery that something could have different words for the same thing that changes that thing’s meaning. Words that don’t mean anything in one language could hold a strong meaning in another. (Like the word schadenfreude).
Q: Some of your poems implement an interesting use of mid-word line breaks. What made you decide on this technique, and how do you determine when to use it?A: A lot of my poems are very jarring in subject. To make it more jarring, I like to break where you aren’t “supposed to” break. I had a professor who told me never to break on the word “the,” so after she said that, I wrote a poem where every line broke on the “the.” It is kind of a rebellious act , a way to not be bound by some kind of formula.
Q: Another interesting stylistic choice was the spacing within your lines. How did you decide to use spacing as an artistic tool?
A: If I’m writing a poem where there are spaces between the lines, it’s usually because the words reflect a thought, and then the next thought. The spacing represents a sort of lapse in time or hesitation much the way, I imagine, Emily Dickinson imagined her dashes. It is a way of reflecting language and time, in a way showing the timelessness of the poem, and how it is self-composed. Writing with breaks is like the poem is being written in time.
Q: Name a writer who is currently making you jealous.
A: Well, you’re always jealous of what you can’t have. I did a reading with Jennifer Knox recently, and she can make so many people laugh with her poems, and that astounded me that poetry can do that. I wanted to do that.
Q: What kind of child were you?
A: Somewhat shy and thoughtful. I was sensitive, my feelings got hurt very easily, I liked to be alone and draw.
Q: What is your relationship with rejection like?
A: I’ve been rejected so much that in some ways I’ve gotten used to it, but in some ways I haven’t. Sometimes I lash out and get angry, make fun of the magazines that reject me. It’s very immature. I get rejected now from places that I got accepted from five years ago, because of a change in editors, and now it’s people who haven’t heard of me, so it’s a constant thing. The fact that you have a book does not make you less susceptible to rejection. It still comes.
Q: What book did you suffer for the most, and why?
A: This is my first book and I sent it out so many times and got rejected so many times. I spent a lot of time and money I didn’t have on it. My friends told me to let it go and go on to the next one, but I would not let it go because it meant too much to me. There are a lot of lucky poets that have had their books published in five goes, but that just didn’t happen for me. I think I got lucky in a weird way because I got to edit and revise my book so much. I had time to make it the best form that it could be, which I think it is.
Q: What was the greatest surprise for you in your most recent writing?
A: I’m always surprised by my writing; every poem I try, even if it’s a failure, is always a surprise. Writing is about possibility, that’s the beauty of a blank page. The reason I write is for the surprise, sometimes it’s really bad.
Q: What writerly habit would you most like to break?
A: I tend to steal a lot, sometimes for inspiration, I’ll look through other books, take lines and tweak them. I usually feel guilty about it, so I’d like to break that. I need self-reliance.
Q: What did you have for lunch today?
A: Well, I’m pregnant so, Mamba sour fruit chews, some hot chocolate, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a banana.
