12 or 20 (second series) questions with Christian Gullette

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Christian Gullette’s debut poetry collection Coachella Elegy (July 1, 2024) won the Trio House Press Trio Award, and his poemshave appeared or will appear in The New Republic, The American Poetry Review,Kenyon Review, the Poem-a-Day (Academy of American Poets), andThe Yale Review. He has received financial support from the Bread Loaf Writers’Conference and the Kenyon Review Writers Workshops. Christian completed hisPh.D. in Scandinavian Languages and Literatures at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, and when not serving as the editor-in-chief of The Cortland Review, he works as a lecturer and translator from the Swedish. Helives in San Francisco.

1 - How did your first book change your life? How does your most recentwork compare to your previous? How does it feel different?

My first book just cameout officially on July 1, 2024, so it’s still very much a moment-to-momentexperience. The first thing I noticed was how different it felt to stand at amicrophone and read poems from a bound collection rather than printer paper.That really hit home.

2 - How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction ornon-fiction?

Several high schoolEnglish teachers assigned readings from an anthology of poetry, and I washooked. As a kid just starting to recognize my sexuality, something about the lyricalgesture – the things unsaid as much as said, the compression, the emphasis onfeeling and image – really appealed to me.

3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Doesyour writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first draftsappear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out ofcopious notes?

I tend to write poems inbursts after several weeks or even months. And even then, it might just be afew poems. I need to live life. Travel. Go to the ballet or go hiking or watcha classic film. Stay out all night partying. A line might occur to me. I usuallywrite it down in my phone and leave it there for a while. What the poemsdiscover can take drafts to emerge, if it does.

4 - Where does a poem usually begin for you? Are you an author of shortpieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a"book" from the very beginning?

Usually with that line I abandonedin my phone. If it keeps calling out to me in my head, I’ll come back later. Idon’t usually set out to write into a project. I wait for an obsession.

5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Areyou the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?

Readings are definitely apart of my poetry experience – especially attending as many readings by otherpoets as I can. I enjoy reading my own poems, as well.  

6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kindsof questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even thinkthe current questions are?

I’m interested in thetensions between pleasure and pain, joy and loss, beauty and destruction. Thosecomplex, conflicting emotions are also part of an attempt to move throughgrief, which, in my poems, often finds expression seething beneath the surface,an intimacy and deep pain between the lines and in acute images rather thanbold declarations.  I’m interested innotions of place, particularly California and notions of queer utopias, and thenarratives and destructive myths than inform them. Considering environmentalprecarity, drought, fire, land displacement are all part of that questioning. Anotherform of precarity is that of the body. There’s a lot of erotic desire in thebook, and I love to write love poems, but there’s a sense that the body isnever far from dissolution.

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?

I hope my poems make areader feel something.

8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficultor essential (or both)?

I find it was an essentialpart of editing my book. But I also received the gift of editors who feltconnected to my work and invited me to participate in a collaborative process,while also not being afraid to suggest a few major suggestions that in the end,really sharpened my book.

9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily givento you directly)?

A mentor poet always tellsme to “keep going.”

10 - How easy has it been for you to move between genres (poetry to translationto critical prose)? What do you see as the appeal?

I also work as aSwedish-to-English translator, so switching genres feels natural to me. Inaddition to translating fiction and non-fiction, I devote as much time as I canto translating poetry. I’ve learned so much about my own poems, especially regardingword choice and tone and music.

11 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you evenhave one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

I tend to write in theafternoons. It’s not constant or according to any schedule. I’m not a greatcafé writer; I like to be at my desk with my music and a tree or view out thewindow. Individual lines can come to me wherever and whenever, especially whentraveling.

12 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (forlack of a better word) inspiration?

Travel, nature, andespecially museums. Movies. Hotels really spark memories. Cocktails on arooftop. Books can sometimes help, but I find them to be more helpful when I’min the mood to write.

13 - What fragrance reminds you of home?

Chlorine.

14 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but arethere any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, scienceor visual art?

Art is very important tomy work. As is music. Nature for sure. Food.

15 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, orsimply your life outside of your work?

There are so many writersand artists I return to, and it would be impossible to do that list justice,but here’s a brief attempt: C.P. Cavafy, Elizabeth Bishop, Tomas Tranströmer,Louise Glück, Henri Cole, David Hockney, Lana Del Rey, Ada Limón, Diane Seuss,Reginald Shepherd, Joan Didion, Randall Mann, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Thom Gunn, Christopher Isherwood.

16 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

Publish a translation of apoet’s full-length collection. Learn Italian.

17 - 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 notbeen a writer?

Cinematographer would becool. I’d love to live in Sweden and work for a Swedish television show. I’dwork at a dog sanctuary helping dogs splash in a pool.

18 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

It insisted no matter whatI did, as if it were the only way I could know something about how to feelabout my experience.

19 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

Book: Modern Poetryby Diane Seuss

Film: La Piscine

20 - What are you currently working on?

Hopefullysome new poems after a few months, but I’ll have to see.

12 or 20 (second series) questions;