PEELING BACK THE LAYERS
Organized by the Poetry Committee
HAYDEN KRADELMAN
Q: If you were to describe your writing style as a music genre/ one word, what would it be?
A: “Reflective” or “stream-of-consciousness”
Q: What is your favorite poet/poem?
A: Anything and everything written by Mary Oliver, and recently "Frida Kahlo to Marty McConnel" by Marty McConnel
Q: What is your favorite line in your poem?
A: “Palms touching/As if in prayer”
Q: What inspires you to write?
A: It's difficult to pinpoint the "what," though it's often a "who," and sometimes me. I've found writing poetry to be one of the few ways I can tame my inner monologue, or at least, quiet it for a little while. I'm constantly writing in my head, and those words rarely make it to the page. I'll be busy
moving through the motions of daily life, but sometimes, when I have a moment for myself, I'll listen to the nudge to put pen to paper. It feels like a way to honor myself, my voice. To better understand my experiences, to make the feelings tangible, and often to free myself of the heavier ones. I hardly ever share my writing, but when I do, it allows me to connect with those who resonate, and share a sliver of my inner landscape, and I think that inspires me to write too. So I can not
only know myself deeply, but be known deeply too.
CHARLOTTE ISENBERG
Q: If you were to describe your writing style as a music genre/ one word, what would it be?
A: Y'allternative
Q: What is your favorite poet/poem?
A: The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot
Q: What is your favorite line in your poem?
A: "Witnessed only by hollow stars"
Q: What inspires you to write?
A: It helps me imagine a world in which we don't see the past and future as separate.
ROSALIE MCCRACKEN
Q: If you were to describe your writing style as a music genre/ one word, what would it be?
A: Twangy weird girl musings.
Q: What is your favorite poet/poem?
A: My favorite poem is Shira Erlichman's "You on a Table in Someone Else's Hands." I stumbled upon it one day while I was scrolling on The Poetry Foundation website, and I revisit it monthly. There's something in that poem that gets me every time... "When your eyes meet mine, all commas flutter" -- her sense of knowing someone deeply, alongside the yearning and imagery is a gift that I adore.
Q: What is your favorite line in your poem?
A: Probably the last 2 lines, because they work in tandem with each other. "Birthing the features of a thousand women/ in two beats, I cry & they pray witness." I've talked to so many women about the intense medical pain that they've experienced in IUD procedures-- stories that often went ignored or unexpressed-- and it felt like I needed to communicate their voices alongside mine.
Q: What inspires you to write?
A: I use writing to process. I often latch onto floating ideas, emotions, and images to make them as explainable and concrete as I can. Making sense of the abstract. That way I can feel something and be like, "hey I wrote a poem about that and it encapsulates the images I want to convey but can't airdrop into your brain." I wish to connect with people through my writing, hoping
that I'm maybe putting words to their experiences, too.
REILLY BROWNING
Q: If you were to describe your writing style as a music genre/ one word, what would it be?
A: Intentional
Q: What is your favorite poet/poem?
A: Onset By Kim Addonizio
Q: What is your favorite line in your poem?
A: “Maybe I mean it/And maybe you believe me. But I don’t/and neither do you.”
Q: What inspires you to write?
A: I would say my main inspiration to keep writing comes from the support of my loved ones. I feel
like most writers have that little voice in their head that says "hey! you are literally the dumbest person ever, and every single thought you will ever
have has already been had, so you should give up. Oh and also you suck and everyone hates you," but
I truly am lucky enough to have people around me whose voices are louder and feel far more profound than the little one in my head.