12 or 20 (second series) questions with Quenton Baker
Quenton Baker
is a poet, educator, and Cave Canemfellow. Their current focus is black interiority and the afterlife of slavery.Their work has appeared in The Offing, Jubilat, Vinyl, The Rumpus and elsewhere. They are a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, and therecipient of the 2018 Arts Innovator Award from Artist Trust. They were a 2019Robert Rauschenberg Artist in Residence and a 2021 NEA Fellow. They are theauthor of
we pilot the blood
(The 3rd Thing, 2021) and ballast (HaymarketBooks, 2023).1- How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent workcompare to your previous? How does it feel different?
Ithink anyone’s first book is huge. It’s so difficult to get a first book ofpoetry published. Most of us have to go through the terrible rigamarole ofspending hundreds of dollars on first book contests and/or praying for openreading periods and hoping you stand out enough for someone to take a chance onyour work. It’s a deeply inequitable and alienating process.
My new book, ballast, is very different from myfirst book. It’s not narrative, it’s a long poetic sequence instead ofindividual poems, it’s very much a project-based book. It’s also not concernedwith legibility for/speaking to a white audience or gaze.
2- How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
Iactually came to hip-hop first. Poetry, with its interest in sound, meter, andthe sonic weight of the line, made it a natural progression once I gotdisillusioned with rap shit.
3- How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does yourwriting initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appearlooking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copiousnotes?
I’ma research-based poet, so I think in terms of book-length projects. It usuallytakes a fairly long time for me to find something that can support afull-length collection. Most of my writing is reading, so I would say it’sfairly steady. I tend to read/research a lot and then spend time in bursts ofdrafting actual poems. But the whole process is writing for me.
I’mdefinitely not a poet that iterates with drafts over weeks/months/years. By thetime I even start a poem, I’ve likely gone through ten or so drafts in my head.And by the time I reach the end of a poem on the page, I’ve read it dozens oftimes and revised along the way. So it’s technically a first draft, but thefirst draft has 20+ drafts inside of it.
4- Where does a poem usually begin for you? Are you an author of short piecesthat end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a"book" from the very beginning?
Poemstypically begin with images for me (even if that’s not where the poem itselfstarts, its nascence is owed to a specific image).And I’m always working on a book from the beginning.
5- Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you thesort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
Readingsare great. Poetry thrives in and requires community. There are many ways toarrive at being in community with other poets and readers, and public readingsare an important part of that. I definitely enjoy giving readings and being anaudience member.
6- Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds ofquestions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think thecurrent questions are?
AllI have in my writing are theoretical concerns, probably. My theoreticalconcerns are the same as the theoretical concerns of Black Studies: to observe,document, critically examine, celebrate, and interrogate Black life within ananti-Black world. The question in my work is: how do we live?
7– What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Dothey even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?
Ithink the writer's job is to pay attention. And to care about things. And tonot be a dick, mainly.
8- Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult oressential (or both)?
Everyoneneeds an editor. ballast’s editor, Maya Marshall, is a divine gift.
9- What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to youdirectly)?
That90% of writing is reading.
10- What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one?How does a typical day (for you) begin?
I don’t reallykeep a routine. Outside of going to work during the week. I write when I canand when I have energy. I do everything I can to have as much energy for mywork as possible.
11- When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack ofa better word) inspiration?
GwendolynBrooks and Aimé Césaire.
12- What fragrance reminds you of home?
Doughnuts.
13- David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there anyother forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visualart?
Anyart that I encounter shapes my own art. If I’m thinking about it or reacting toit or criticizing it or praising it, I’m putting myself in dialogue with it.Which is expanding my thinking and my understanding. Those expansions alwaysshow up in some way in my work.
14 - What otherwriters or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside ofyour work?
There are toomany to list. I am indebted to so many Black writers and scholars and thinkers.The first few that come to mind are Christina Sharpe, Fred Moten, GwendolynBrooks, Aimé Césaire, Saidiya Hartman, Marwa Helal, Dawn Lundy Martin, Evie Shockley, M. NourbeSe Philip, Dionne Brand, Will Alexander, Eloise Loftin,Lorenzo Thomas, and so many others.
15- What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
Writemy next book.
16 - If youcould pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately,what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?
IfI were better at math, I would love to be a quantum physicist.
17- What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
Aninterest in survival, mainly.
18- What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
Thelast great book I read was I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself byMarisa Crane. The last great film I watched was the futurist documentary Wall-E.
19- What are you currently working on?
Currently,I am working on finishing a large bag of tiny citrus fruits.
