The Habitual Poet: Cathleen Calbert

Installment #45

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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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Q: Where do you prefer to get your books?

A:  I’d prefer to get them from my local independent bookstore, but, frankly, Amazon is faster and cheaper.

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

A:  No idea—a lot. And read almost all—unless someone just sent me a copy of his/her book!

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

A:  I don’t curl up with a book of poetry at night—poetry’s too hard! My line to students is that it’s like double chocolate cheesecake—great but you can’t eat too much in one sitting or you’ll get sick to your stomach.

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

A:  One.

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

A: Byatt’s The Children’s Book and Walbert’s A Short History of Women.

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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:  In the summer—my months away from teaching.

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

A:  Zero, on average.

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

A:  I revise early and late. I revise until someone takes the poem away from me and puts it in a book.

Q: When do you know a poem is “done”?

A:  See above. I shoot for “done for now.” I don’t think my poems are ever perfectly, absolutely done.

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

A:  No. Parties are more important than poetry. This is wisdom.

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Publishing

Q: What is your system for sending out work?

A:  I keep track—what, where, who, how. Not always why though.

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

A:  Rejections, always! Lots of rejections for one acceptance. That’s what drives this cycle.

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

A: In print. I still like print but have more & more respect for online.

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:  Years ago, the editor of this small mag rejected my poems but asked if I wanted to meet up for coffee.

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

A:  Yes, a bit of fan mail over the years—always very welcome to me. It’s a pleasure to be read. One hate mail was from someone who said he saw a poem of mine in the local paper and that I wasn’t a true poet. He knew because he was a true poet. He enclosed his homemade chapbook: Cowflop Wisdom. No kidding.

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Practical considerations 

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

A:  Teaching. Doesn’t interfere with my writing except in terms of the time it devours.

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

A:  

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

A:  I have always been afraid to stop writing.

Q: Do you have a “poetry budget”?

A:  No.

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:  I have embarrassed my husband. He wasn’t thrilled with my poem “In Praise of My Young Husband.” I mean, thrilled that I was going to publish it. But I don’t know how to write a poem and not try to get it into print.

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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:  Only subhuman abilities, but I won’t talk about them.

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)

A: d) Do none of the above; instead you: Neglect to tell my family about whole books of poems.

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:  Life trumps writing in my book.

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

A:  Y’s nice. It’s so unvowelly.

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: I guess to try to read and write with pleasure. Joy Williams: “To read without joy is stupid.” Ditto for writing, I think.

Cathleen Calbert’s poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction have appeared in many publications, including The New Republic, The New York Times, The Paris Review, Poetry, and The Women’s Review of Books. She is the author of three books of poetry: Lessons in Space (University of Florida Press), Bad Judgment (Sarabande Books), and Sleeping with a Famous Poet (C.W. Books). Her awards include The Nation Discovery Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the Tucker Thorp Professorship at Rhode Island College, where she currently teaches.