The Habitual Poet: Judith Terzi

Installment #37

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The Habitual Poet is an ongoing series of contributor interviews. If you are a Poemeleon contributor and would like to participate copy & paste the Q's from below and e-mail your answers to: editor@poemeleon.org. 

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Reading

Q: Where do you prefer to get your books?

A:  I like to give business to Vroman's in Pasadena, an independent bookstore. But I do cheat and buy used online. I did buy the last Stieg Larssen book at Barnes & Noble because I had a gift coupon for $10, and the book was 30% off. I paid $12 for a hard cover. Always happy about a good deal.

Q: How many poetry books do you think you own, and what percentage of these have you actually read?

A:  I own about 200, including French ones used as a student and as a teacher. I may have read quite a few but that doesn't speak for retention.

Q: When, where and how do you usually read? (i.e. at bedtime under the covers, cover to cover, etc.)

A:  When I read poetry, I can concentrate best somewhere else besides home. At Starbuck's or the doctor's office, for example. Lately, I've caught up on my poetry journal reading waiting for physical therapy that I needed as a result of surgery on my hand to remove a rose thorn. But I do read at bedtime also. If I read during the day, it's in between writing when I desperately need inspiration. I don't always read poetry books cover to cover but feel guilty if I don't.

Q: What books of poetry have you read this month?

A:  The very last poetry book I read was The Wind Blows Through the Doors of My Heart by D. Digges. I must confess that August passed without much poetry reading due to the Larssen trilogy. It was hard to concentrate on anything else.

Q: What other books/magazines/backs of cereal boxes have you read recently?

A:  As I said above, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the sequels. Before I got hooked on that, Too Much Happiness (Alice Munro); The Lover (A.B. Yehoshua'); Unaccustomed Earth (Jhumpa Lahiri); The Big Short (Michael Lewis); and Half the Sky (Kristof & WuDunn.

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Writing

Q: When, where, how do you write, and why?(i.e. at dusk on a dock, longhand in a notebook, because...)

A: Well, for me it's easiest writing on the computer if I can. I take notes on my iPhone when I'm out and transfer the notes to my computer. I do use a notebook when I travel. I'm not a disciplined journal writer.

Q: How many first drafts do you think you complete in a week? A month?

A:  I'd say I write 3-4 different drafts in a month.

Q: How long do you wait before revising a poem?

A: That depends on how lousy the first draft is. If I'm committed to it and like the draft, I'll start revising right away or workshop it.  If I feel it's going to work, then I have to stick with it; otherwise, I tend to ignore it and then lose interest.

Q: When do you know a poem is “done”?

A:  I guess when it's published. But even then, doesn't everyone want to still make changes?

Q: Have you ever given up an invitation so you could stay home and write?

A:  Actually, that might be true for a lunch date if I need space to complete a project. But I wouldn't give up an invitation to begin one.

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Publishing

Q: What is your system for sending out work?

A: I wish I knew. It's pretty helter-skelter. When I think I have some poems ready, I'll look for some options. But I don't have a schedule. Sometimes in the middle of writing a draft, I'll check out some online listings. It's a great diversionary tactic.

Q: What have you more recently received: a rejection notice or an acceptance? Was it what you expected?

A: Well, I was surprised that Finishing Line accepted a chapbook manuscript. However, I also received several journal rejections in the last 2 months.

Q: Where do you generally publish: online, in print, or a mix, and do you have a preference?

A: No preference. Lately, my work has been mostly online. It's easy to send links to friends & family. That's an advantage of online publication. But it's also nice to line your bookshelves with journals where your work appears. Not that that's my case!

Q: What is the worst (or weirdest, or best) experience you’ve had with a journal/magazine/press & its editor(s)? (No names, please!)

A: Well, I had submitted a non-fiction story that had focus problems. The editors sent me very constructive comments about how I could re-organize the piece. What I liked was that they had read the story carefully and used the characters' names in the letter. I never reorganized the story but turned it into a sestina instead; it appears in my latest chap.

The weirdest letter was from an editor who told me my poems were too "academic." When I wrote to ask what she meant by "academic," she wrote back to say that no one had ever asked her why their poems had been rejected, that she was a poet too and we all had to deal with rejection. When I protested, she wrote to say that my poems were about teaching and school.

Q: Have you ever received any fan (or hate) mail? If so, what was that like?

A:  No fan mail, just comments on poems online where a comment box is provided by the journal. No toxic messages that I know of.

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Practical considerations

Q: What is your day job, and how does it affect your writing?

A:  I taught French in my other life, so now I've plenty of time on my hands. I stopped teaching to be able to write. It was very difficult finding the energy to write while teaching high school.

Q: How does your significant other’s occupation affect your writing life?

A:  Well, he's a soccer fanatic, and the tv room has a solid wood door!

Q: Have there been periods in your life when you couldn't write?

A: Every day there are doubts.

Q: Do you have a “poetry budget”?

A: Not really.

Q: Have you ever suffered (or made someone else suffer) in the name of your art? (i.e. picked up your kids late from school so you could finish a poem, forgone lunch to buy a book, left a relationship because the other person just didn't understand, etc.)

A: The only thing I can say here is that I've made friends listen to poems who may not have been interested.

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Random nonsense

Q: Do you have any superhuman abilities? (i.e. can you tie a cherry stem in a knot with your tongue, or write a double sestina with both hands tied behind your back?)

A: Well, I did write a double abecedarian and a canzone. But not at the same time!

Q: You write a scathing poem about your mother and she learns about it. You:

a.) Move to South America and leave no forwarding address

b.) Delete the poem and insist it never existed

c.) Show it to her (she’s already written you out of the will anyway)

d.) Do none of the above; instead you: _____

A: d.) Well, I have written a scathing double abecedarian about an aunt. I changed the name. And she's 106, so maybe she'll never see it! And she did write me out of the will even before the poem was published!

Q: If the best medical specialists in the world told you that if you didn’t give up your poetry habit today you would die in six months, would you get your affairs in order or would you leave that up to your family?

A: At my age, my affairs are in order anyway. If I could live another 6 months illness-free in France or Spain, maybe I'd run the risk!  I've had a good life up until now.

Q: If you could be a vowel, which one would you be and why?

A: Probably the French "u" because it's so sexy.

Q: Finally, what piece of advice would you most like to share with our readers? (This can be on writing, the writing life, or anything else...)

A: Advice? Chill! 

Judith Terzi is the author of "The Road to Oxnard" (finalist Pudding House 2009 chapbook contest). Her poetry has appeared widely in print and online, has been nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology, and placed as runner up in the 2009 Alehouse Press Happy Hour Awards. A new chapbook, "Sharing Tabouli," will be published by Finishing Line Press. She taught high school French at Polytechnic School in Pasadena and English at Cal State L.A. for many years.