In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Amy Roa
“Red Pine” is a beautifully creative poem in Volume 28 that details the melding of trees and octopus. Where did the inspiration for this poem come from? I wrote “Red Pine” during my time at the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Workshop. We were given an assignment...
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In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Johnny Cordova
Where were you when you first had the idea for “Li Po took a driving test?” What inspired this poem? Where did the impetus to use the title as part of the piece come in? It was the last day of a generative workshop with Jose Hernandez Diaz. I’d had a poor night of...
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Amanda Chiado
“The Carrying Kind” is a beautifully descriptive poem. Where did the inspiration for this piece come from? My brother lost his infant daughter, and it is an all-encompassing grief, an unbearable grief, that no one knew how to process or “carry.” I desperately wanted...
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Felicia Zamora
You have two poems in Volume 28 of Water~Stone, "lEcogodliness” and “Always Incomplete." In "Ecogodliness," what drew you to use brackets instead of parentheses? In the full collection of poems, Ecogodliness is a series with all the same title. This particular...
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Christopher Citro
Your poem, "Why Our Bathtub Sparkles," is about a couple preparing to have guests over—but deeper than that, about connection and community in a shifting world. What inspired this poem? Thank you for this opportunity to respond to your questions and for your reading...
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Steve Castro
You have two poems in Volume 28 of Water~Stone, “Postcard from the Central American Town I grew up in before I learned to speak English,” and “Most likely an imperative from a Confederate soldier’s descendant.” How did these poems come about? Long titles, huh? “Most...
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Victoria Blanco
I love the storytelling in your nonfiction piece "Corn-Yellow Light." You did a lot of research for this piece. How did you sift through everything to create a narrative? What was the process like to piece together your research into something that flowed? I sifted...
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Alice Paige
What inspired your poem, “An Untitled Hunt?” Where did you draw the title from? This poem is centered around the miracle of survival and the expectation of violence and death to be visited upon the creature deemed huntable. The “untitled” aspect of this poem looks to...
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Cheryl Clark Vermeulen
What inspired your poem, "Patriarch"? Thank you for your astute questions about my poem! It is lovely to have great listeners. My inspiration for “Patriarch” was very much influenced by work meetings, whether corporate, academic, or otherwise organizational,...