The Habitual Poet: Lalanii Grant

 Installment #64

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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: Amazon’s easy, they already know me by my first name. But I do love the process of meeting an author one on one to egg them on and get a personalized signed book. I gleek at dimly lit hole-in-the walls such as A Book Can Change Your Life, they’re just wonderful! My favorite bookstore is Skylight Books.
 
Q: How many poetry books do you think you own, and what percentage of these have you actually read?
A: Ok poetry, more than 500, books; more than 300. I’ve read 75% because I always like to feel like there’s something better I could be doing, like reading another book. Here’s the thing, I own so many not because I’m overly scholarly but rather it’s because I’m a hoarder. “Hi, everyone my name is Lalanii, and I’m a creative-chaotic-hoarder of books and the way they smell, feel, and taste.”
 
Q: When, where and how do you usually read? (i.e. at bedtime under the covers, cover to cover, etc.)
A: I have something to read with me everywhere I go. I have been known to be a toilet-reader, a “leave me alone—I’m reading”-reader, an insomniac lamp into the late night-reader, a crook in my neck I can’t get comfortable-reader, a bookstore window-reader, a coffee shop laptop-reader, and a wake up drooling into the book-reader.  
 
Q: What books of poetry have you read this month?
A: Maggie Nelson’s Bluets can be categorized as poetry, to me, but it borderlines nonfiction as well. I also read Kim Addonizio’s Lucifer at the Starlight, and Poetry magazine’s giddy ity book that comes monthly when you subscribe.  It’s a slow poetry month (go figure) since I’ve been editing and revising other work.
 
Q: What other books/magazines/backs of cereal boxes have you read recently?
A: I’m a dual concentration major in Poetry and Nonfiction, so I this month I’ve read Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott in reference nonfiction, and Liar’s Club, by Mary Karr in Nonfiction.

I am constantly reading Bob Hicok and Jeffrey McDaniel. Because when you find poets that feed you, you eat.

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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: When I write poetry, I start the notes all longhand in a journal, those poems generally write themselves nonstop throughout my daily activities. Then I have to pullover because I am not a poetic driver. Sometimes I write on early mornings or later nights when the muse comes in the form of watching people and remembering, telling half-truths then going far left with reality, or in full on conversation with myself.

When I write nonfiction I am generally only at my laptop and it has various locations toggling between my kitchen windows, front desk, or bed.
 
Q: How many first drafts do you think you complete in a week? A month?
A: I complete about 3 first drafts in a week, and then take it to workshop somewhere weekly. I do this at the same time as 2 or 3 other poems. Workshops keep me moving, Writing Centers keep me creating, love of craft keeps me.
 
Q: How long do you wait before revising a poem?
A: I revisit every time I look at it. Sometimes when I start to share a poem, what is on the page does not come out of my mouth. If what I said sounds better to me, poof—revision.
 
Q: When do you know a poem is “done”?
A: I never really know, but I know how it makes me feel for someone to comment on a poem I’ve written. It makes me feel as though the poem roused them up enough to let me know; so perhaps that one is finished.
 
Q: Have you ever given up an invitation so you could stay home and write?
A:  Yes, if there’s a deadline.

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Publishing
 
Q: What is your system for sending out work?
A: I keep a folder marked submissions. Inside of it are word documents with the guidelines; another word document with the poem/narrative, and another word document with the details of the submission: dated, delivery, and response.
 
 
Q: What have you more recently received: a rejection notice or an acceptance? Was it what you expected?
A: This week I had two rejections and I went on my normal rollercoaster of why. Since I am in the process of writing my memoir, rejections in poetry seem to hurt worse. I feel as though I am cheating on poetry with prose. I think it can also be attributed to the fact that I’m submitting less work in order to focus my full attention. I did, additionally, hear from an editor this week— which is no promise, but good enough.
 
Q: Where do you generally publish: online, in print, or a mix, and do you have a preference?
A: Both, but mostly online. I freelance for magazines.  I ghostwrite for websites.  I prefer an even mix of both but I’ll take either.   
 
 
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: A magazine editor once told me that when she read my work she could “see” me. I didn’t know if that was a good response or a bad one, but I know that feedback only helps you in the way you receive it. I just smiled to myself and wrote back “thank you.”

Q: Have you ever received any fan (or hate) mail? If so, what was that like?
A: I have received comments about how brave my writing is and the chances I take that other writers might not. Fan mail is like delectable all you can eat hors d'œuvres.

The feeling I get when I receive commentary is like visiting an open bar-boutique shopping spree-antique fair-bookstore.

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Practical considerations
 
Q: What is your day job, and how does it affect your writing?
A: I am a Fashion Stylist pursuing my MFA in Poetry and Creative Nonfiction, full time mother of an eleven-year-old banana colored Dennis the Menace (as I’ve been so eloquently told) and a 1.5 lb. Maltese baby girl puppy named Notebook. All of my experiences inform my poetry just as much as dressing mannequins. I am also an interning editor at Poemeleon Literary Journal, where you might be reading this interview, perhaps.
 
Q: How does your significant other’s occupation affect your writing life?
A: Where? Show me him! (Laughing out loud)
 
Q: Have there been periods in your life when you couldn't write?
A: I don’t believe in writer’s block. I don’t believe in writer’s block, I don’t believe in writers being blocked. Making the transition from focusing entirely on poetry to toggling between the life of a memoirist as well, has proven to be a challenge. I’ve never been unable to write at all. Something always spills out, but using every double negative I can, never—not anything at all.

 
Q: Do you have a “poetry budget”?
A: Nope, I’m the most frivolous fruit in the basket case.
 
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: Not yet. Although some would insert incessant coughing here.

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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: I have the ability to take an experience, story, or a few sentences from a person about any subject, and give them back a nonsensical poem in only a few moments. I’ve done this for weddings, funerals, and anniversaries.

O, I have fallen in the shower twice running from spiders (sort of superhuman, right?) and I have successfully passed my superpower of sleeping with my eyes open to my son!  All is right in the world.
 
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. I have an ineffably exquisite mother. She will curse me out about it and then cook me a roast. As she is cooking the roast she will forget she has already cursed me out and curse me again. Then we would go shopping.
 
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:  Poetry or death? There has to be a clause somewhere. I’d find the fine print.
 
 
Q: If you could be a vowel, which one would you be and why?
A: i, as in me, me, me, i, i, i. i am who i am.  if i don’t like it, i wouldn’t expect you to either. A writer has to write from an internal immediacy (a sort of hyper vigilance) in order to care enough about a subject to give it the best attention, or in this instance- intention. Otherwise it’s all illusion. For me, it’s writing about the situations that have taught me the most. And using as many “I” words as came to mind in the prior sentence.

i also like the aesthetic look of the lowercase i. Just look at how cute it is.  
 
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:  My advice for writing at the beginning of a poem is to just start, along with a quote from Robert Frost:
“A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.”

My advice for the writing at the middle of a poem is to consistently keep learning— especially about yourself, and a quote by Muriel Rukeyser: “Breathe-in experience, breathe-out poetry.”

And my advice for thinking, writing, speaking, living, and the writing at the end of a poem is a quote I’ve coined through my experiences: “If nothing else, at least be interesting.”

 
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Lalanii Grant is a writer from Los Angeles, CA. She is pursuing her Master of Fine Arts degree in Poetry with a dual concentration in Nonfiction. She teaches Writing for Wellness workshops and is an interning Editor at Poemeleon Literary Journal. Her musings can be found at creativeconfusion.org where she writes poetry and prose about motherhood, relationships, and lifestyle.