I am happy to have Terah van Dusen with me on the blog today. She is going to talk about some of her poetry that is featured in Empirical's first poetry anthology, Latitude on the 2nd. Let's get started.
Tell us about your current releases in the anthology.
I wrote Some Women Just Like A-Holes on a paper napkin while I was eating a plate of french fries at a diner that was attached to a bar. My friends were inside the bar dancing to god-awful hip-hop music that I couldn't stand to hear, so my twenty-five year old self went and sat inside the diner until they were ready to go. I was disappointed that, out of the hundred people that were there that night, there wasn't a single cute guy for me to talk to or dance with. It was one of those “oh, well, at least I have my poetry” feelings as I sat down at the greasy diner table. I asked the waitress to borrow a pen and sat there and waited for something to write about. Of course that “something to write about” did transpire, as it always does. I couldn't believe those assholes!
The Best Love Is Self Love. I once had a dream that the world was ending, the Earth was losing gravity and we were all flying off into the atmosphere. I looked around at my friends and family who were standing next to me. A young female cousin, whom I am very close with, reached out for my hand. I said to her, “No, we enter this world alone, and we must leave this world alone.” This poem stemmed from that concept. That we as a whole should become less co-dependent on each other. There's a phrase at the end that targets social media. Social media has become yet another way for us to be utterly dependent on each other. Social media has changed the relationship I have with a lot of my friends. I think and write about social media a great deal. But I think I'll shut up now. Fuck Facebook.
Tell us about your next releases.
I will be submitting 4 poems that I hope will be selected to appear in Cool Water Publishing's Summer 2012 Anthology. I'll tell you about a couple of them. Are You My Mother? describes all of the women that came into my life after my mother left me and my father when I was one year old. My dad was old-fashioned in thinking that I needed a mother-figure so he always kept one around. There were a number of these women, and most of them were less than motherly. This poem is me remembering them. Parts Of Me is a poem that has received much positive feedback on my blog. I like it too. It explores my feelings about wanting to give up on life and essentially become a bum, following in the footsteps of a good number of my family members, including both my parents.
What books are you reading now?
The memoir, Kabul Beauty School, by Deborah Rodriguez and How To Become A Famous Writer Before Your Dead by Ariel Gore. Both fabulous reads.
What music inspires you to write?
There are a of couple songs that always motivate me, they are: “Paperback Writer” by The Beatles and “Open Book” by Cake.
Favorite authors/poets?
My favorite authors are Janet Fitch and Jeanette Walls. My favorite poet is Charles Bukowski.
Favorite books?
White Oleander and Paint It Black by Janet Fitch, and The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls.
Favorite TV shows?
I'm one of those assholes who thinks they're above television. Okay, okay, I totally watch hours of “What Not To Wear," a style show on A & E.
Favorite movies?
Eh.
At what point in your life did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
In the early nineties. I was a child, maybe 9, and was visiting a friend of my grandmother. My grandmother and her friend were doing artwork and they sat me in front of a computer. I hadn't used a computer, save a few hours in the computer lab at school learning how to type. The friend opened up Microsoft Word and I typed up a fictional story about a vintage orange suitcase getting lost and traveling all the way to Hawaii. The story was from the suitcase's point-of-view. The story was printed out and my Grandmother and her friend read it and loved it. I went home and wrote in my diary that I wanted to become a writer “when I grew up.” I still have that diary entry and I look at it when I need motivation.
Tell us about your writing process.
I keep about four different journals and notebooks floating around. One on my bed stand, one in my purse, one at work, and one on my desk. The one on my bed stand receives those fleeting ideas that transpire right before drifting off to sleep, usually this is a scene that I need to write for the memoir I'm working on; an example would be “going to jail.” Like, “don't forget to write about the time you went to jail.” The notebook in my purse is for writing poems when I'm out at a coffee shop, the library, or a bar. The notebook at my work is full-sized. I mostly write my memoir when I'm at work. I'm a nightwatch person so I have a lot of downtime. The notebook on my desk is for all of the above: poems, memoir, ideas, thoughts, titles of books I need to read, more ideas, more poems.
I constantly look to the lists I've made in these journals. They are like To-Do lists. Especially the lists that are for my memoir. They will have a long line of scenes I need to write:
going to jail
losing my virginity
“we're huggers”
“holy pants”
Strip club in Mexico
describe house on Glenn
Dad-forehead
After I write the scene I cross it off the list. I also make To-Do Lists that target my memoir on a larger scale, such as:
Continue to write Part II (just keep going!)
Merge scenes into Part I
Ask Tiff if she wants name changed
Interview Dad
Print first draft
My poetry doesn't have much of a process, not like my memoir writing does. I just write a poem, then publish it on my blog. As I'm publishing it on my blog, I do re-write sentences, delete sentences, change things, edit, etc. I make lists of places I want to submit my poetry to for publishing. I keep a list of those places, with contacts, and make a note next to it that says when I submitted my poetry.
Are the names of the characters in your novels important? How and why?
Because I'm writing a memoir, names are very important. I have two characters who do not want their real name to be provided. I have changed their names, which is kind of a huge pain in the ass. They are both very private people. They're not even main characters. My dad, who was at first supportive of my memoir, is now kind of nervous about the things that will be revealed. His name will not be changed. Some of the things he will read will hurt him very much. In writing poetry, I do care very much about punctuation and word choice. Most poems I read do not use punctuation at all. I do, however, use punctuation in my poems and every period and comma you see is intended to contribute to the flow and readability of the piece. There is a method to the madness, people! I noticed that in the anthology, Latitude On Second, my italics were edited. In the original poems, each time a character spoke, the sentence was italicized. The publishing company changed this. Whatever works I guess. They are the professionals, not me, but when I saw it I thought, “hey, I meant to do that!”
Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Read my blog! And if you are a writer, give me your link! We're all in this together!
More about Terah:
Bio:
I am an aspiring poet and memoirist. I live in Eugene, Oregon, and work as a residential counselor at a young women's substance abuse treatment center. I am twenty-six years old and have REALLY BIG dreams for myself. I hate being around people, but I WANT FAME! I have a story and I want to just spit it out. This has been easier said than done, but you can follow my progress as a writer on my blog. Aside from my writing career, my plan is to live way out in mountains, “off the grid”. I may raise a kid or two and I plan to do a lot of cooking, nature observing, writing, and making love. I will be working somewhere in there, too. Oh, and I hope there's a boyfriend or a husband involved.
Meet Terah:
Check out some other poets from the Spring Poetry Anthology:
