12 or 20 (second series) questions with Joelle Barron
Joelle Barron is an award-winning poetand writer living and relying on the Traditional Territories of theAnishinabewaki of Treaty 3 and the Métis people (Fort Frances, ON). Their firstpoetry collection, Ritual Lights (icehouse poetry, 2018), was nominated for theGerald Lampert Memorial Award. In 2019, they were a finalist for the DayneOgilvie Prize for Emerging LGBTQ2S+ Writers. Barron’s poetry has appeared in ARCPoetry Magazine, CV2, EVENT Magazine, The New Quarterly,and many other Canadian literary publications. They live with their daughter.
1 - How did your first book changeyour life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does itfeel different?
· My first book changed my life in that it connected me topeople who I never would have otherwise known, and it gave me a place in theworld of Canadian poetry. I think with this second book I’m more confident inmy voice and point of view, with similar themes of queerness and isolation buta more positive vibe overall. I wanted to write a book of love poems this time,because they are my favourite poems to read.
2 - How did you come to poetry first,as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
· I started writing poems in early childhood. I don’t reallyknow why; I have just always gravitated to writing as a form ofself-expression. My cousin—who was like a sister to me—died suddenly when I was13, and in the process of going through her things, I found that she wrotepoetry. I began writing poems to process her death, and I’ve never reallystopped.
3 - How long does it take to start anyparticular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is ita slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, ordoes your work come out of copious notes?
· I am extremely slow to start anything. Thinking about doingthe thing is a big part of doing the thing for me. What I love about writingpoetry is that, initially, it’s easier not to overthink it than with prose.Typically, the final product looks very different than the initial attempt,because I never start off imposing any sort of form or structure to a piece;that’s part of the editing process for me.
4 - Where does a poem or work of proseusually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combininginto a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the verybeginning?
· A poem usually begins with an image, or a line. Usually thetitle; like, what would a poem with the title “Your Wife is a Cryptid” beabout? It sort of shapes itself from there. I don’t usually start writing witha whole book in mind, but I follow whatever themes naturally emerge.
5 - Are public readings part of orcounter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doingreadings?
· I live in a rural area so I don’t get the opportunity to domany readings. I get super nervous for readings but I do always enjoy them.Workshopping is definitely key to my process, and I really love to share mywork in that capacity.
6 - Do you have any theoreticalconcerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answerwith your work? What do you even think the current questions are?
· This is a hard question for me to answer because I amautistic and part of that for me is that I am a very literal person. I don’tthink I’m trying to answer any questions with my work; I write because peopletypically understand me better through writing than through spokencommunication. So for the most part, I am writing to connect, and to feel lessalone in the world.
7 – What do you see the current roleof the writer being in larger culture? Do they even have one? What do you thinkthe role of the writer should be?
· I think the role of writers is to connect people. There’ssomething so potent about seeing something you’ve always felt described withlanguage. Or understanding something you’ve never felt because it’s describedso adeptly.
8 - Do you find the process of workingwith an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
· Essential! I can’t say I’ve ever found working with aneditor to be difficult. I am grateful for all of the editors in my life.
9 - What is the best piece of adviceyou've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
· The best writing advice I’ve been given is just to do it,regardless of how badly you feel about it or how hard you’re tempted to be onyourself. The best general life advice I’ve been given is don’t be in arelationship with someone who won’t dance with you at a wedding.
10 - How easy has it been for you tomove between genres (poetry to fiction)? What do you see as the appeal?
· Fiction is harder than poetry because you have to keep holdof so many threads. My poetry is narrative, but you can only do so much in apoem. The appeal of fiction is that it gives you a lot more space to tell astory.
11 - What kind of writing routine doyou tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you)begin?
· I get up in the morning about an hour before my daughterand read. Reading is an important part of my writing process, and I find it alot more difficult to access that “writer” part of my brain if I’m not readinga lot. It’s harder to have a routine around writing, being a busy singleparent. When I do write, I like to sit down for at least a few hours, in theevening or on the weekend.
12 - When your writing gets stalled,where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?
· I walk the dog. Moving my body (without the distraction ofmusic or a podcast) usually shakes things loose. I also re-read works that Iknow inspire me and make me want to keep trying.
13 - What was your last Hallowe'encostume?
· Mary Jane Watson.
14 - David W. McFadden once said thatbooks come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work,whether nature, music, science or visual art?
· All of the above for sure. Literally anything can (andshould?) be poetry.
15 - What other writers or writingsare important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?
· This would be an extremely long list if I mentioned all ofthe writers whose work is important to me, so I am just going to mention my twoclose friends and editors, Ruth Daniell and Ellie Sawatzky. Brilliant poets whoinspire me and make me a better poet. Also, I wouldn’t be a poet without Rhea Tregebov.
16 - What would you like to do thatyou haven't yet done?
· Run across a windy moor in some sort of Victoriannightgown.
17 - If you could pick any otheroccupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think youwould have ended up doing had you not been a writer?
· In another life, I would be a midwife for sure. It’s reallyhard to imagine what I would have done if not writing. It’s one of the fewthings I’ve ever felt sure about.
18 - What made you write, as opposedto doing something else?
· Writing just always made me happy. I always loved to read,and that made me want to write stories of my own.
19 - What was the last great book youread? What was the last great film?
· Book: Like a Beggar by Ellen Bass. Movie: Anatomy of a Fall.
20 - What are you currently workingon?
· I’m about half done the first draft of a novel.
