How did you first come to poetry? What is it about the form that resonates?
I think most people come to poetry as children through nursery rhymes and playground songs. It’s how I came to poetry, at least. I also learned to read phonetically, which is a poetic lesson in learning words through alliteration. Phonetic learning is also about understanding words through their sound, rather than their spelling. I was a slow and not very good reader as a child, a trait that continues to this day. So, poetry offered something short that required concentration. Before I could write at all, I pretended to write poems in a journal. These poems were drawings. Poetry resonates, fundamentally, which I like. I like things when something is many things at one time, and poetry can be everything.
How does a poem begin?
In my diary. And truthfully, it’s always a battle. I gave up “not writing” for Lent, but keep forgetting that I gave up anything. I unfortunately wait for inspiration. A lot of times, there are poems in my head that I never write down. I have a running dialogue with myself. I also write poems in dreams. I sometimes try to transcribe them, but the letters get jumbled. The most beautiful poems I have written, I can’t remember.
How did publishing your first book or chapbook change your writing? What have the differences been since?
Publishing my first chapbook gave me confidence in my ability to write in a way that could be seen, and in being seen, there was a community. The poetry community is very important to me. It feels like I have met my people. Before publishing my first chapbook, I was trying to figure out my voice and medium. I attended many poetry readings when I first moved to New York, two or three a week for over the course of two years. I didn’t consider myself a poet until I published my first chapbook. That’s what the chapbook publication gave me, a name for what I was. And since publishing my first book, it was a relief. Something I had prayed for. I am deeply grateful for Zan de Parry and Matthew Hodges (my chosen brothers), who published Fecund through their press, Keith LLC.
Have you a daily schedule by which you work, or are you working to fit this in between other activities?
I don’t have a daily writing schedule–and I need one for my own sake. I work as a therapist. It’s my vocation. I can’t imagine doing anything else, but it takes the language out of me, and with it, motivation. I live with my partner and my step-son, who is two, so there are also the dynamics of family life that I haven’t fully figured out. I am sleepy and often sick. I would like to know how to write from my bed, but this is impossible. I write best outdoors. I like to think of Frida Kahlo or the painter Laura Footes. Both create(d) alongside chronic illness.
What are your favourite print or online literary journals?
My favorite poetry subscription from above/ground press! The Cleveland Review of Books and Pamenar Press are great.
Who are some of the writers you are reading lately that most excite you?
I recently spoke to Aaron Fagan about his book, Atom
and Void. I have always loved Aaron’s work, but talking to him was
exciting. I have been revisiting work by Danielle Collobert, Banu Kapil, and
Rosemarie Waldrop. Rachelle Rahmé is an inspiring poet.
Katie Ebbitt is the author of Fecund (Keith LLC, 2024) and chapbooks ANOTHER LIFE (Counterpath, 2016), Para Ana (Inpatient, 2019), Air Sign (Creative Writing Department, 2024), and HYSTERICAL PREGNANCY (above/ground press, 2024).