12 or 20 (second series) questions with Ori Fienberg
Ori Fienberg’s
is the author of the chapbook
Old Habits, New Markets
from elsewhere press, and a micro-chapbook,
InterimAssistant Dean of Having a Rich Inner Life
, part of Ghost City Press’ 2023 summer series. Ori Fienberg’s debut collection of prose poetry, Where Babies ComeFrom, is available for preorder from Cornerstone Press.1 - How did your firstbook or chapbook change your life? How does your most recent work compare toyour previous? How does it feel different?
Nearly every poem in Where BabiesCome From, like Mr. Peanutbutter’s memoir in Bojack Horseman, “just fellout of me”: beginnings, parallel worlds, childhood (which is a parallel world),alternate realities, anxieties, and strange explanations for how we live in atime that's simultaneously magical and mechanical. I'm still looking forexplanations for how we live, but now rather than finding an unexpected featherto treasure, I get into the dirt and comb through it, like someone who hasstopped dreaming of flying and instead falls asleep to burrowing.
2 - How did you come topoetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
The first words we understand must bea poem. It’s always been there. But then there were so many stories: AesopFables, Blueberries for Sal, and the tales of Chelm read to me by my parents,and Taran the Wander, read to me by my brother.
3 - How long does it taketo start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially comequickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to theirfinal shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?
Some poets set themselves to write acrown of sonnets about how 14th century Slavic puppeteer Vladimir Richevskilosing his leaf-stuffed kupalo in a fire foreshadowed the triumph of moralityover superstition in itinerant minstrel shows, and each word and each day is astep towards completion. Every poem is a leaf caught falling from a tree: Itend not to be able to grab more than one at once, but I do like making a pile.
4 - Where does a poem orwork of prose usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that endup combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book"from the very beginning?
A poem has an interesting life cycle. Atleast one of the poems in Where Babies Come From came into being over 20 yearsago. Several began 10 years ago. A poem appears in space because the gravity ofthe words brought it into being. That first poem attracts other words, whichsometimes coalesce into other poems with their own gravitational pull.Gradually a collection begins to form.
5 - Are public readingspart of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer whoenjoys doing readings?
It hardly enters my creative process,but I love the opportunity to introduce audience members to something new andsurprising, and to connect. I hardly know what I'm going to read until a couplehours (or less) before a reading starts, and even then it may change based onthe appearance and mood of the audience. I don't have favorite poems to read,and prefer to mix it up, instead referring to current events, the weather, howI slept the night before, or taking cues from the audience.
6 - Do you have anytheoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are youtrying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questionsare?
I struggle with the role of the“first-person” and personal and communal identities. In my prose poetrycollection, the first-person rarely appears; in manuscript I’m working on now,many more poems are in the first person, but I still feel constrained by a sortof taboo-of-self: how much do I want to share about my body? How much of myidentity is private, and how much is communal? But outside of my continuousfear of oversharing (which may not be possible in poetry), how can I connectwith other readers who are struggling to live in a rapidly changing world,especially when what we hope for may be out of reach?
7 – What do you see thecurrent role of the writer being in larger culture? Do they even have one? Whatdo you think the role of the writer should be?
The role of a writer is to conveytheir experience of the world in a way that enriches the world for someoneelse.
8 - Do you find theprocess of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
I relish having an editor, but I thinkit’s just, or maybe even more important to read widely and seek out poets whoboth reinforce and challenge my conception of poetry.
9 - What is the best pieceof advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
Don’t be afraid of writingshit poems. For a while, I was in a poem-a-day writing group, and nearlyeveryone who lasted more than a month wrote a shitty poem occasionally. Writerecklessly. Write without shame. Keep writing.
10 - How easy has it beenfor you to move between genres (poetry to prose)? What do you see as theappeal?
I lived in the in between for a longtime, completing an MFA in Nonfiction Writing, then writing exclusively prosepoems for many years. I guess I usually prefer a little argument to a long one.I like small, carefully crafted arguments, that are non-Newtonian, but fill outa container. One day my arguments stopped responding the same way; they shearedinstead of compressing. But I’m going back and forth now: I understand my formsof argument better.
11 - What kind of writingroutine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day(for you) begin?
I try to make it part of every day.For several years that meant writing in the evening, after the 9-5 work day wasdone, for an hour. I think a routine works best, but sometimes I fall out ofthe routine, and almost as important advice as not being afraid to writeshit-poems, is to not to berate yourself when you can’t lure the right words.
12 - When your writinggets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word)inspiration?
So much of writing isn’t writing. If Iread a new poem in a literary journal, that's part of my writing routine. If Ichange three words in a poem that hasn't been accepted, but is getting nicenotes from editors, that's part of my writing routine. Sometimes, particularlyin the summer, my writing routine is making a root beer float and then waitingfor the globe of ice cream to fully sublimate.
13 - What fragrancereminds you of home?
Home has been many places for me, butone of my earliest scent blends is honeysuckle and chlorine from when we usedto pick blossoms off the fence surrounding the pool at the Jackson, MS HolidayInn.
14 - David W. McFaddenonce said that books come from books, but are there any other forms thatinfluence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?
In Wales, the Preseli ponies will beyour friend. Mt Monadnock is the most climbed mountain in the world. I waslucky to be taken to Alinea, and saved the bagthe smoked (Alder, maybe?) potato chips came in so I could take whiffs of itlater. I was floored when I discovered Ken Nordine’s Word Jazz.I’ll never stop, a la Tom Waits, asking “what’s he building in there?”.At various points I’ve had Janelle Monae,Curren$y,Glenn Gould’s Goldberg Variations (including rehearsals),Rob Crow,and Beck on loop. Lindsey Mendickis doing hilarious and disturbing things in narrative ceramics. I invariablyrub my eyes after chopping Thai chilies. There are so many delicious andsurprising forms of inspiration.
15 - What other writers orwritings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?
So much of my poetry is predicated on impossiblepossibility that it's maybe unsurprising that outside of poetry I spend most ofmy time reading scifi and fantasy. I typically read 1-2 of these books a week,and often go back to these worlds, sometimes several times. If you haven't readN.K. Jemison's Inheritance Trilogy,now is always a good time. Seanan McGuire’scatalog ranges from doors-to-high-logic-worlds to killer mermaids: it’s endlessand wonderful. You’ll fall in love with Bonedog from T. Kingfisher’s Nettle and Bone.
16 - What would you liketo do that you haven't yet done?
My wife (essayist and potter EmilyMaloney) and I have talked about starting aliterary journal that's printed on a brick and pays contributors one brick.
17 - If you could pick anyother occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do youthink you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?
Sometimes, I think I’dlike to mong. There’s a store front around the corner from us that would begreat for a cheese shop.
18 - What made you write,as opposed to doing something else?
You’re saying we get a choice?
19 - What was the lastgreat book you read? What was the last great film?
I love the cozy sci-fi of BeckyChambers’ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.
20 - What are youcurrently working on?
I'm just starting to submit a newmanuscript, currently titled Every Special Offer is a Special Celebration,which is primarily backyard financial anxiety pastorals. You can read recentlypublished work from the project in the last issues of No Contact Magazineand Superstition Review.
