12 or 20 (second series) questions with Brandi Bird
Brandi Bird [photo credit: Heather Saluti] is anIndigiqueer Saulteaux, Cree, and Métis writer and editor from Treaty 1territory. They currently live and learn on the land of the Squamish,Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam peoples. Bird’s poems have been published in Catapult,The Puritan, Room Magazine, and others. They are a fourth yearBFA student at the University of British Columbia, but their heart is alwaysyearning for the prairies.
1- How did your first book or chapbook change your life? How does your mostrecent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
Myfirst chapbook, I Am Still Too Much, published with Rahila’s Ghost Pressin 2019, changed my life in so many beautiful ways. When I first signed thecontract for my chapbook, I only had about five pages of usable work. I had tobuild the chapbook from the ground up and I learned so much about myself and myprocess. I also met some of my best friends through the editing processincluding my poet twin, Selina Boan (who edited the chapbook). We still editeach other’s work with a kindness and an honesty that I value with my wholeheart. She wasn’t afraid to push me and still isn’t. My writing and editingprocess for my first full-length book, The All + Flesh, was differentfrom my chapbook because I feel like my voice is more fully honed and isn’tconcerned with what’s expected of me. I wrote what I wanted and for who Iwanted.
2- How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
Istarted writing poetry in 2016 after a very long break from it. I wrote as achild and adolescent and suddenly stopped at fifteen because I was moreconcerned with survival than creation. I picked poetry up again as an adultafter getting my mind blown by reading Liz Howard’s The Infinite Citizen ofThe Shaking Tent. I decided to go back to school and took poetry classes atDouglas College where my instructor Liz Bachinsky told me I was a poet. One ofthe first poems I wrote is actually in The All + Flesh (2023). I thinkpoetry makes sense to me because it is something that takes me places I can’tgo with fiction or non-fiction (at least right now). It feels small and thenexplodes. It changes me.
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?
Myfirst book of poems is full of the work I’ve done over 3 years. I wrote amanuscript I shelved before The All + Flesh and I doubt it’ll see thelight of day. My writing comes quickly when I’m in a routine and I don’t waitfor inspiration to strike. I do take breaks from writing though because I findI get my best work done when I’m living too. I find restorative time to gathermy thoughts essential but I have to remember that I have a return to routine totoo. It’s a constant cycle of trying to measure my capacity especially sincewriting makes me feel alive when I can get it done.
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?
TheAll + Fleshis a cumulative work. My next book is a “book” with a theme I’m very cognizantof. Even within a theme, a poem usually begins with an idea/prompt or maybeeven just a word. I will often recycle metaphors and images in multiple placesjust to figure out where they best fit and then figure out how to untangle themess I’ve made in the revision process. I have a lot of fun with first draftsand I’m not afraid to share first drafts with people because I truly believe theyare something to be celebrated.
5- Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you thesort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
Ishake when I do readings. But I find them fun too. Like a horror movie.
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?
I’mvery concerned with health and “wellness” cultures right now. We use health andwellness as punishing forces in society and they get tangled in the largersystems at play. They seem like structures we have to scale and I’m so tired ofit. I touched on this theme a little in The All + Flesh but that bookwas more focused on physical pain as I wrote it when I was suffering fromextreme nausea almost every day. My next project is a book concerned with thegrief that comes with sickness/illness.
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 being a writer is being a storyteller. Having a storyteller around isgreat fun but I don’t think a storyteller is as useful as say a plumber or amidwife or a dishwasher. Stories teach us a great many things and maybe theyteach us to be better people but I’m struggling with language and it’slimitations in the midst of the terrible grief I have felt recently.
8- Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult oressential (or both)?
Havingan editor is essential for me. My editors made my book better than I evercould’ve imagined. Working on my own turns everything I have written into salt.I stare at it too long and I lose it.
9- What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to youdirectly)?
Writewhat’s true, not what’s beautiful.
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?
Iam a morning writer. Not every day of course but I try to write at least twodays a week. I revise more often than I write. Revision is great fun!
11- When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack ofa better word) inspiration?
Igo to my therapist because I’m usually afraid of something in my writing or inmy life that is making it hard to write. I will also just let myself take abreak sometimes and just live without the expectation of writing. That usuallyshakes it out of me.
12- What fragrance reminds you of home?
Lilacs.My grandma and grandpa had lilacs on their property in East Selkirk, Manitobaand it’s my favourite smell in the world.
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?
I’minspired by the land of course, especially the land I grew up on in Manitoba.But music is another big inspiration for me. I write exclusively to music withlyrics, usually the same song on repeat, until I tune it out and vibrate out ofmy body. I’m writing this interview to a song right now (MGMT’s “One Thing Left To Try”).
14- What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply yourlife outside of your work?
OtherIndigenous writers’ work is so important to me. Liz Howard and Jordan Abel arewhy I write today. I can’t express how much their books changed my life.
15- What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
Iwant to write a novel!
16- If you could 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 awriter?
Onceupon a time, I wanted to go to medical school and was pursuing a sciencedegree. I wasn’t any good at it. I’m getting a Master of Fine Arts degree a.k.adelaying adulthood so I’ll let you know what I actually get up to when I finish!
17- What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
Anger.
18- What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
SwanFeast byNatalie Eilbert. It’s research for my next book. And I saw Hot Rodrecently and it’s possibly the best comedy I’ve ever seen.
19- What are you currently working on?
Ihave sixty pages of a new manuscript about eating disorders. They’re roughpages but I’m happy to have written them. I wrote them during a literalmanic episode when I was sleeping between two and four hours a night andwriting the rest of the time. I wouldn’t recommend this process but the wordspoured out of me. If I could’ve chosen between not having the pages and beingwell, I would’ve chosen that though!
