12 or 20 (second series) questions with Myronn Hardy
Myronn Hardy is the author of several books ofpoems.
Aurora Americana
isforthcoming, October 2023 (Princeton University Press). His poems have appeared in The New YorkTimes Magazine, Ploughshares, POETRY, The Georgia Review,The Baffler, and elsewhere. His books have garnered the PEN/OaklandJosephine Award among others. He is anassistant professor of English at Bates College.1 - How did your first book change your life? The first book truly gave me confidence. It confirmed that it was possible to do thisthing I thought impossible which was to write and publish a book of poems. How does your most recent work compare toyour previous? Aurora Americana and my previous book, RadioactiveStarlings, are both thinking through the notion of place. They are doing this in different ways but thenotion of place is the link by which they connect. How does it feel different? AuroraAmericana is a dawn book. Most of the poems take place during or closeto dawn. I’ve never centered time inthis way.
2 - How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fictionor non-fiction? I think I initially found the shapes of poemscurious. When I started learning more aboutwhat they do, how concentrated language can create feeling, make music, I knew Iwanted to attempt to make poems.
3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? I’ve written poems that have taken years, a couple took a decadeto write. I need time to figure out whatpoems need and how I can give them what they need. Does your writing initially come quickly,or is it a slow process? Slow. Do firstdrafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out ofcopious notes? Rarely do poems resemble first drafts. Attempting to make and know a poem take a lotof time. I spend a long-time compilingimages, lines, phrases, sentences. Iwrite several versions before the version is set. Often, during a reading, I’ll even change aword or phrase.
4 - Where does a poem usually begin for you? Are you an author ofshort pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working ona "book" from the very beginning? I write poem afterpoem. I never know if single poems will compileinto a book. After several years, I’ll lookback to see what I’ve been writing, of what I’ve been fixated. Sometimes that looking back tells me that abook might be emerging.
5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creativeprocess? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings? I likedoing public readings because they allow me to see and hear reactions to thework. As someone who attends poetry readings, I know that hearing poems read bythe poet reinform one’s experience and knowledge of the work.
6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? Whatkinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What doyou even think the current questions are? I’m very interested in howwe connect and disconnect. How do we live,thrive despite everything? How does placeinform? How do we sustain our humanity?
7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in largerculture? Do they even have one? What do you think the role of the writer shouldbe? The roleof the writer is to see what they see and write what they write. To always go there and get to the truthdespite the pull to be untrue.
8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editordifficult or essential (or both)? My experiencewith editors has been good. A goodeditor asks questions as opposed to saying, “This is wrong. Do it this way.” And this, for me, has always been helpful.
9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarilygiven to you directly)? Be free. Your work, your writing (your poetry) is perhaps the only place whereyou can be free and dangerous. You arein control of that danger.
10 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do youeven have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin? I write every day. I wake up very early, before sunrise. I like to have that new day’s sunlight fallover the page as I write. I usually writefor four hours in the morning. I end themorning writing session with a run. Idedicate the evenings to revision.
11 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or returnfor (for lack of a better word) inspiration? When the writing isstalled, I read; sometimes I’ll listening to music, I’ll force myself to getlost within it.
12 - What fragrance reminds you of home? Pine.
13 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, butare there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music,science or visual art? The natural world is my most profoundinfluence. It’s an inexhaustible resource.
14 - What other writers or writings are important for your work,or simply your life outside of your work? Fernando Pessoa. Bob Kaufman. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Lucille Clifton. Mahmoud Darwish. Elizabeth Bishop.
15 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done? I would like to visit Oman.
16 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what wouldit be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had younot been a writer? If I hadn’t become a writer, I think I wouldhave liked to have become either an architect or astronomer.
17 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else? Writing is a necessity forme. It selected me. And I said, yes. And despite that selection,I didn’t believe it was possible. Buthere I am and here it is. And I’mgrateful.
18 - What was the last great book you read? What was the lastgreat film? Book: MPH and OtherPoems by Ed Roberson; Film: Death for Sale
19 - What are you currently working on? I’m writing poem afterpoem. And I have novel manuscript. We’ll see what happens.
