Dante Di Stefano: Tupelo Press just released the anthology Four Quartets: Poetry in the Pandemic. Could you tell us a bit about this anthology and its genesis?
Kristina Marie Darling: I had the privilege of co-editing Four Quartets with Tupelo Press’s Publisher & Artistic Director, Jeffrey Levine. When curating the anthology, we wanted to showcase the many different styles and aesthetic approaches that writers have taken in depicting what is essentially a shared experience. To that end, we chose sixteen chapbook-length folios, including two collaborative folios; a folio in translation from the original Korean; innovative folios like Dora Malech’s postmodern lyrics and Mary Jo Bang’s captivating hybrid text; and folios that honor tradition and reframe it for a thoroughly contemporary cultural moment, like Jon Davis’s Pandemia and Maggie Queeney’s The Patient. Though some of the work was specially commissioned for the anthology, we felt it was important to also hold an open call. In the end, we were humbled by not only the sheer volume of submissions, but the artistic vision and the quality of the writing. This open call enabled us to present twelve established voices alongside four exciting new ones. And because we received so many outstanding submissions, we featured many of the poets in Tupelo Quarterly’s most recent issue, TQ22.
DD: Four Quartets, as you note in the introduction to the anthology, bears witness to life during the pandemic. It is timebound, historic, and (what Carolyn Forché has called) evidentiary in ways that other anthologies are not. Stephanie Strickland’s poem “Time-Capsule Contents” underscores, in its title, the preservative impulse of the anthology. There was also a very quick turn-around from conception to publication for this book. Could you talk about how these factors influenced your editorial work on this project?
KMD: To help deliver such a timely book at the right moment, so that readers see their lived experience reflected in the poetry, was an honor and a privilege. In this moment of pandemic, protest, upheaval, and isolation, we felt it was important to present a project that cultivates community through the literary arts. We at Tupelo Press have been thrilled to see Four Quartets achieving this goal, our recent zoom launch being one example. It was heartening to see over eighty enthusiastic guests who came out to celebrate poetry—which has been, truly, a light in dark times.
Let me just say that the completion of this timely anthology would not have been possible without Tupelo Press’s gifted staff, which includes Allison O’Keefe & Jacob Valenti, Operations Administrators; David Rossitter, Managing Editor; Kirsten Miles, Director of the 30/30 Project; Alan Berolzheimer, Consulting Editor; & Emily Bruenig, Fulfillment Coordinator. They were instrumental in designing the anthology, sending out proofs, and gathering materials such as author bios and photos, but also fulfilling the donor rewards for the Kickstarter campaign that made the book possible.
DD: There are two collaborative section in this book, the excerpts from a long poem by Yusef Komunyakaa and Laren McClung and the poems co-written by Traci Brimhall and Brynn Saito. This type of collaboration seems particularly moving and effective during a time of physical distancing. Could you discuss what you found most notable in these collaborations?
KMD: It’s exciting to see the ways that technology has invited a spirit of collaboration even in this difficult cultural moment. Traci and Brynn actually completed their co-authored folio long distance, so what a thrill to see them perform together during our Zoom launch. Yusef and Laren also gave a captivating collaborative reading during our online celebration, and how great that people from all over the world could experience these wonderful performances, which shine a light on both artistic intention and collaborative process.
DD: How did you decide on the organization/ordering of the anthology?
KMD: We sequenced the anthology to highlight thematic and stylistic continuities. We also wanted to create a narrative arc through the arrangement of the poetry, beginning with writers bearing witness to our current moment in the most powerful of ways, and then, moving forward to inspire a sense of hope, community, and generosity of spirit. For this reason, we felt it was important to place Denise Duhamel’s Strength near the end of the book, for example, along with Traci Brimhall & Brynn Saito’s Wild Recovery & Rick Barot’s wonderful prose pieces.
DD: B.A. Van Sise’s stunning photographs have their own section. How do these images contextualize and converse with the poems in the anthology?
KMD: I think of the anthology as a ledger of both history and community, of solitude and the lyric imagination. In this respect, the photographs serve a necessary documentary purpose, while at the same time affirming the confluence of literature and the fine arts, of the ways that poetry can be illuminated by other mediums and disciplines.
DD: South Korean poet, Lee Young-Ju, translated by Jae Kim, is the only international voice in the volume. Can you talk about her poetry and the dialogue it opens with American pandemic poetry?
KMD: I was excited to see Lee Young-ju and Jae Kim’s submission because of the sheer beauty and innovation of the poetry and the incredible skill of the translation. But also, it places the American writers in the volume in a global context, while also evoking a sense of shared community and grief across the boundaries of nationality, language, and identity.
DD: In the introduction to Four Quartets, you reaffirm Tupelo Press’s commitment to supporting underrepresented groups. Can you tell us more about this commitment?
KMD: I’m so glad that you asked about this. In addition to Four Quartets, Tupelo Press published the first anthology of indigenous American poetry in over twenty years, which places gorgeous creative work alongside essays on craft and artistic tradition. The anthology, Native Voices, was co-edited by CMarie Fuhrman & Dean Rader. Our catalogue is comprised of over 60% women and non-binary writers, compared to other university and trade publishers, whose ratio hovers around 30 or 40%.
Additionally, when I first joined the staff of Tupelo Press, I felt it was important to expand and diversify our editorial process, and to that end, we have implemented panels of preliminary judges for each of our contests. More specifically, we have hosted panels of all women and non-binary poets, as well as panels comprised of a majority of writers of color. These preliminary judges, who represent artistic excellence across the boundaries of race, class, gender, and aesthetic standpoint, offer an opportunity to bring additional perspectives and voices into our editorial discussions. This practice ultimately challenges me as an editor to expand my sensibility, my thinking about poetry, and to interrogate my own aesthetic preferences.
DD: What was the most surprising, edifying, or otherwise remarkable aspect of editing this anthology?
KMD: Even in a time of isolation, it’s been wonderful to see the many forms that collaboration can take, whether it’s co-authoring a ghazal, translating, deconstructing a larger literary tradition, or reframing an artistic inheritance for our current cultural moment. I’ve enjoyed seeing poets in conversation with visual artists and with one another, but also, it’s been inspiring to witness artistic exchange and literary community persisting even in the most adverse of circumstances.
DD: Since this is a Meet the Press interview, can you tell us a bit about the history of the press and your involvement with it?
KMD: Jeffrey Levine founded Tupelo Press 22 years ago and released our first 5 books in 2021. Since then, we’ve published approximately 275 additional titles, and to great acclaim, always taking such care that the look and feel of our books matched the brilliance of the writing. We’ve launched so many important careers, including Ilya Kaminsky, Jennifer Militello, Matthew Zapruder, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Maggie Smith, and on and on. We’re especially proud of our recent anthologies, Native Voices and Four Quartets, and of our long-standing commitment to provide a platform for women, people of color, and LGBTQ writers.
Since joining the staff of Tupelo Press, first as Associate Editor at Tupelo Quarterly and later as Editor-in-Chief of Tupelo Press, I’ve been intrigued by the ways that our books bridge the gap between literature and the fine arts, whether through the creation of artisan quality editions, or through collaboration across disciplinary boundaries. Tupelo Quarterly, the online literary publication of Tupelo Press, was created to deepen this aspect of the press’s mission and extend its presence into the digital realm. In recent years, we’ve created a singular space for collaborative texts, poetry films, cinepoetry, sound poems, and more.
DD: What should readers look forward to from Tupelo Press?
KMD: I have to say, our current list of new and forthcoming titles is one of our strongest yet. We will be publishing a book of poetry and archival collages by Katy Didden: as well as Chee Brossy’s first full-length collection, Stegner fellow Corey Van Landingham’s second book, Love Letter to Who Owns the Heavens; Laurel Nakanishi’s Berkshire Prize winning collection, Ashore; a book of stunning visual poetry by Naoko Fujimoto; and a debut book of poetry by Kelly Webber, whose sheer talent and graceful metaphors astonished us during our recent July Open Reading Period.
DD: Here are four brilliant poems from the anthology. I wanted to end with these because they are among my favorite in the anthology and because they give a hint of the range and caliber of poetry contained therein.
Traci Brimhall and Brynn Saito
Dear Past
I couldn’t do it again, that worrying. Time before
our wild recovery, before I learned
my prayers in the gray kingdom, before shelter
was a signal for burning eyelids
and grief tea. Tribes more ancient than memory
walk through you. They wander
the thinnest sky, place between pen and page,
neighbor and trigger, frontline
and garden: whole homelands exist
on faith alone. I couldn’t do it again:
all of the forgetting, my spirit fleeing my body
for another present. Do I forgive you?
You carry my grandmothers. I carry verses. Your panic
is almost mine, but I refuse
the enemy’s image. Truce is a mask
made of pressed flowers. Daughters unleash
a nation of broken sons. Dear replica
shotgun, dear unroped memory: Did I suffer enough?
Shane McCrae
When Our Grandchildren Ask Us What America Was Like Before
We lived in giant tin eagles we used rags
Wrapped around human bones as torches we were dogs
Each dog in its own bird we didn’t speak
To each other but yes we could talk
Yes they could hear us yes they didn’t answer
Our questions but they heard
Us we spoke light to light the corners too dark for the torches
Those shadows even light from burning bones won’t touch yes
A god’s shadow is cast inside
Its body no they weren’t gods
No more like noises made music by dancers
We made the shadows then we searched
The shadows then we made new shadows when we danced
Again we spoke around the torches no we could-
n’t hold them like you would we had no hands
We held them burning in our teeth and smiled
Denise Duhamel
The Unreturning, 2020
(after Wilfred Owen)
The prez calls us THUGS, has his henchmen hurl
Teargas and flash bombs. Then he builds a Wall/
“Baby gate” around the White House. Appalled,
We adorn it, lauding the afterworld
With wreathes and crosses, signs reading “Stay Woke,”
“I can’t breathe.” His last minutes, George Floyd called
To his momma. Tamir Rice was enthralled
With his BB gun. Cops kick in bike spokes
Of Brooklyn protesters. Last May, at dawn
Police shoot Dominique Clayton, remind-
Ing us it’s not safe to sleep while black. Drained
Of life—Michael Brown, Sandra Bland. Guns drawn,
Tasers zapping, America’s vile blind
Spot. This hothouse, this “pushing daisies” chain.
Dora Malech
After “The Day After My Father’s Death”
to keep the other children safe
from my infectious grief
they left me in lockdown
—Bill Knott
Explain quarantine to children,
says the headline. If they could
read, we could leave the truth
lying around for them to trip
over, but these little ones are
still blank and shiny as their own
wet thumbs, so we say
this is a one-time thing.
We’re near the end.
We can see them again soon,
meaning each missed
someone. Soon, near, one,
can, we say. Those were the
generic words the mini-mart
had, so we stocked up quick,
watched rain drip off the roof.
Kristina Marie Darling is the author of thirty-five books, which include Look to Your Left: A Feminist Poetics of Spectacle (University of Akron Press, 2021); Stylistic Innovation, Conscious Experience, and the Self in Modernist Women’s Poetry (Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2021); Silence in Contemporary Poetry, which will be published in hardcover by Clemson University Press in the United States and Liverpool University Press in the United Kingdom; DIFFICULT: Essays on Contemporary Feminist Poetry (Black Ocean, forthcoming); ANGEL OF THE NORTH (Salmon Poetry, forthcoming); and X Marks the Dress: A Registry (co-written with Carol Guess), which will be launched by Persea Books in the United States. Penguin Random House Canada will also publish a Canadian edition. Her work has been recognized with three residencies at Yaddo, where she has held the Martha Walsh Pulver Residency for a Poet and the Howard Moss Residency in Poetry; a Fundación Valparaíso fellowship to live and work in Spain; a Hawthornden Castle Fellowship, funded by the Heinz Foundation; an artist-in-residence position at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris; five residencies at the American Academy in Rome; two grants from the Whiting Foundation; a Faber Residency in the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities, which she received on two separate occasions; an artist-in-residence position with the Andorran Ministry of Culture; and the Dan Liberthson Prize from the Academy of American Poets, which she received on three separate occasions; among many other awards and honors.
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