How did you first come to poetry? What is it about the form that resonates?
John Gardner, a local poet who ran workshops for years until his death, encouraged me to write poetry. He was always supportive of my prose work but told me several times after hearing me read something that I was really a poet. And, even now, I can still hear him say those words to me. I took up prose poetry when I started thinking about writing that existed in liminal spaces. It seemed natural to allow that work to exist as a prose or lyric poem rather than a work of flash fiction or creative non-fiction. For me, those poetic forms allow expressive writing in ways narrative-driven prose does not.
How does a poem begin?
I am a collector of word things. Bits of conversation I overhear. Random thoughts. Bits and bobs scribbled down as I read. Poems emerge from some of these translations of words heard and collected from the world.
Do you see your writing as a single, extended project, or a series of threads that occasionally weave together to form something else?
I am currently working on a hybrid memoir that contains prose poetry. I was born in Italy and emigrated to Canada when I was four. Writing a work in two languages opens up not only how language(s) can be used but also forms, even with the hard and unavoidable chronology that is the spine of all memoirs.
How do you see your poetry and prose works in conversation, if at all?
For me, there is a conversation between poetry and prose. I read somewhere that poets are observers and other writers are explainers. I don't think this works! While I understand that distinctions must be made and some categories are immutable, prose writers can learn much from poetry and poets, especially with concision. I haven't thought through whether or not it flows in the other direction, but for myself, reading and writing poetry has helped me immensely with prose.
Have you a daily schedule by which you work, or are you working to fit this in between other activities?
I write every day. Usually, I work on my projects for 20-25 hours per week.
What are your favourite print or online literary journals?
I read so many online journals. I especially love Smokelong Quarterly, Pithead Chapel, Cease, Cows, and others. I also discover writers in these journals and others and follow them on social media to see when and if they publish work. There is so much good writing online. I discovered this journal by following Ruth Daniell, whose work you published.
Who are some of the writers you are reading lately that most excite you?
I am one of those people who will read more than one
book at a time. So, currently, I am reading The Greek Plays (Lefkowitz &
Romm), Annie Ernaux's Exteriors, Jose Hernandez Diaz's Bad Mexican,
Bad American, Ann Pedone's Italian Professor's Wife, Megan
Baxter's Twenty Square Feet of Skin, and Michelle Tea's Against Memoir.
Rina Palumbo (she/her) is working on a novel and two nonfiction long-form writing projects alongside short fiction, creative nonfiction, and prose poetry. Her work appears in The Hopkins Review, Ghost Parachute, Milk Candy, Bending Genres, Anti-Heroin Chic, Identity Theory, Stonecoast Review, et al. https://rinapalumbowriter.com/
A selection of her poems appear in the twelfth issue.