A Conversation with Alessandra Lynch

Courtsey of Alice James and artist

Alessandra Lynch’s most recent collection of poetry, Pretty Tripwire, was published in 2021. It was semi-finalist for the Julie Suk Award. In 2023, the poem “Hymnal” from Pretty Tripwire  was used as the libretto for composer Harriet Steinke’s eponymous song cycle. Alessandra is also the author of three other poetry collections: Sails the Wind Left Behind  (winner of the Alice James New England/NewYork Award), It was aterrible cloud at twilight (winner of the Lena Miles Wever-Todd Award), and Daylily Called It a Dangerous Moment (winner of the Balcones Prize, finalist for the LA Times Book Award and the UNT Rilke Prize, listed as a NY Times top ten poetry books of 2017).  Her work has appeared in the American Poetry Review, The New England Review, The Kenyon Review, Plougshares, and other journals. Alessandra has received residencies from MacDowell, Yaddo, the Lannan Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Vermont Studio Center.  She has also been the recipient of a Barbara Deming Award and a Creative Renewal Fellowship Award from the Arts Council of Indianapolis. In May 2021, she was a featured blogger for Poetry Foundation’s Harriet Books. Currently, Alessandra serves as Butler University’s poet in residence where she teaches in the undergraduate and MFA programs. Alessandra’s fifth book of poetry, Wish Ave, will be published by Alice James Books in 2024.

I had the pleasure of asking Alessandra about her latest collection, if she faced any challenges or obstacles as a emerging poet and so much more.

UZOMAH: Have you ever experienced a time of writer’s or creative block?

ALESSANDRA: When I write and the words don’t feel connected to me or connective, when they lack resonance and vitality, I consider that a creative block, even though I’m writing.  During those times, I am unavailable to the deep parts of myself, and so unavailable to deeper language.  Part of this experience involves feeling aimless and even a bit despondent.  Usually, I recognize this state relatively quickly, so I do one of several things: I stop writing and paint, stare, go for a walk, lie down,  read, cook, garden OR I write really really fast, really furiously—no holds-barred-- to break the daze of disembodiment and detachment.

There are also those times after I’ve written a whole slew of energetic, living pages when my writing becomes less satisfying, less vibrant. That is my psyche needing some rest. That is when I need to be quiet.

U: When starting as a poet, did you face any challenges or obstacles?

A: I was fortunate to have started writing when I was very very young, and quite fortunate to have decided to be a writer when I was 9 or 12 years old, and even more fortunate to have had a mother who told me “If you want to do anything well in life, you must practice it.”  I took that to heart and since then, I have been writing nearly daily.

Having been a teacher and professor for more than 30 years could have been an obstacle to the books I might have written had I not had to work.  Sometimes I wonder how my writing would have developed, what new, strange, wonderful creations I might have made in all that space and time.  That said, this service of teaching has also deepened and widened me in unfathomable ways. 

Any form of self consciousness, self flagellation, self doubt can be a hindrance to full, free writing.  I must write till my spirit is entirely embodied by language. 

U: Do you show anyone your work in progress before showing the final edit of your manuscript to the publishing company?

A: I first share my poetry with my mother (who is now 85) as I trust her intuition.  She claims not to fully understand every poem I’ve written, but she has an uncanny knack for sussing out what works from what doesn’t. She actually understands my poetry quite deeply.  A large part of this might be her gift for music (she could have been a pianist, and she is rapturous about classical music) connecting to the musicality of my poems. If the music isn’t working, the poem isn’t. Earlier in her life, she was a lawyer and the go-to person for her colleagues when they needed editorial help on their briefs. She has little patience with overwriting, and this has been instructive in helping me revise.

I also share works in progress with an artist friend. For the past five years, we’ve had a commitment to writing a draft of a poem every week and sharing these every Friday.  Our response to each other’s work is also intuitive. We don’t help each other with revision till much much later.

All this said, the most important person to check in with about the poetry is myself.  Reading aloud each line and glancing down at the words on the page to apprehend the whole and to intuit whether it is alive are critical moments before I submit a manuscript.

That said, I still miss moments and lines that need to be excised. These I usually catch when I review the galleys.

U: Can you describe the stages in which your poems develop? Can you discuss the stages of a poem for you as you write them?

A: Each poem has its unique way of developing.  The word “stages” doesn’t necessarily apply to how I work, especially lately, where the poems seem to be arriving more fully formed than ever before. I will say that whenever I revisit a poem, I look for ways to deepen and sharpen it.  This usually results more in paring away language, tinkering with the line and syntax, than in adding more words.

U: How do you see your writing fitting into the larger context of contemporary poetry? How do you find inspiration from other poets and writers within the community?

A: I’m not sure how my writing fits, other than how all our voices ARE contemporary poetry; I hope mine is another voice that resonates with not only poets but other artists and people who don’t make art or write poetry.  Reading other poets’ books and attending poetry readings usually ignites something in me and always renews my faith in humanity—that people are out there CREATING, not DESTROYING, valuing compassion, valuing attentiveness and love and art---and they’re sharing it—a highly generous act.

U: Your latest collection, Wish Ave, has just come out. Can you discuss further some of the themes you explore and how you hope they resonate with readers?

A: This collection feels as though it has a different dispersion of shadow and light, as well as a different sort of music or syntax compared to my earlier work. It’s breathing out a bit more.

Three voices float through the book—two unnamed voices and one Speaker (the “I” of the poems). They converse, muse, brood.  Sometimes the Speaker needs to tell her one story or sing her one song. Sometimes the two voices just speak to one another. Sometimes all three are engaged in conversation.

The concerns are similar to those of my other books: loss, longing, the natural world, love, connection, disconnection, but the poems feel both simpler and more layered.  I wrote most of the poems during the pandemic, so there is that underlying shadow. There is one longer poem “Grebe” which speaks directly to that experience we shared in our isolation.

I hope the poems help readers re-connect with their grief, their joy, their humor, their longing.

I hope readers read the poems aloud to hear their fuller song.

I hope the poems remind readers of the mystery of our lives.

I hope the poems ignite readers’ imaginations and compel them to befriend a stick or creek or snail, or inspire them to converse deeply, at great length, with someone dear to them.

U: How would you describe your writing style?

A: Lyrical, associative, rich with nature-imagery, imaginative, at times, unfettered, at times, slow.

U: Do you prefer to break the traditional literary rules or adhere to your own method of writing poetry?

A: I follow my ear and my vision.

U: How do you engage within the literary world? Do you actively participate in literary events and workshops, or do you prefer to work in isolation? How do these choices influence your work?

A: I am poet in residence at Butler University, so I’m frequently facilitating poetry workshops at Butler and in the community.  Butler University has a wonderful Visiting Writers’ Series, so really terrific and invigorating writers visit and often I host them. I love to read aloud, so I do book readings whenever I can. Occasionally, I’ll attend AWP to read and to hear other poets read their work and to attend panels. I also have a poetry-manuscript-and-small-batch-of-poems consultation “business” in which people who want feedback, prompts, encouragement, revision ideas, et al send their work to me, then meet with me one-on-one on Zoom or in person. I try  to help them with what they and their poems need.  I really love this kind of work and feel honored and thrilled to be privy to so many urgent voices, particular visions.

For more information about Alessandra’s latest book and more titles from Alice James Books, please visit their site here. The magazine also highlights Alessandra’s latest book, which can be found here.