Thanks, Davis Schneiderman, for inviting me here to participate.
What is the working title of the book?
Throng, from &NOW Books, winner of the Madeline P. Plonsker Emerging Writer’s Residency Award.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
When I think of the origins of “idea” for the book, I think about the accidents and choices of process and materials. I think about the random notes I made while listening to the news, talking to friends and family, overhearing a conversation on the bus, being caught off guard by a musical/noisy phrase in something I was reading—the world as word with all its links and breakages; the presence of other bodies, minds, and modes of relation both ghosted and made immediate by language. Often, I thought about my poem-drafts as field notes to a kind of sound or textual walk.
From these notes, I recognized certain obsessions. The Multiple, with its social and political resonances, was one of them. But a large part of the work was in letting the pieces constellate and grow organically, and not forcing one overarching, totalitarian statement. So the idea for the book as a book came toward the end. And this idea is nothing but the structure of the book, which, in turn, is made up of the spaces between the poems.
What genre does your book fall under?
Poetry.
What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Extras in every movie. Or my favorite Filipino comedians—Max Alvarado, Rene Requiestas, Redford White, Chiquito—all deceased.
What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
A null set walks into a bar.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
About three years.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
The news. Anxiety. Wonder. Bewilderment.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
The cover features work by Poklong Anading, an amazing artist and very dear friend.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It was published by &Now Books, an imprint of Lake Forest College Press, in 2012.
My tagged writer are:
Others forthcoming. Stay tuned.
