(Interviewed and written by Accents Publishing Blog’s Editor-in-Chief, Bronson O’Quinn.)

A couple months ago, I met up with poet Leigh Anne Hornfeldt at Common Grounds Coffeehouse in Lexington, KY to discuss poetry, her press, and life in general.

For those that don’t know Leigh Anne, her personality bubbles with joie de vivre. The second I introduced myself, she had the kind of manic energy a poet should have. Then, once I asked where she parked (I had given her bad directions), she expressed the kind of ready-to-act uneasiness that only a mother could. She circled her mini-van around the block until I finally flagged down a safe spot and then gratefully relished the mocha latte I offered as an apology for the whole rigmarole.

Over the whir of the espresso steamer and cafe chatter, we discussed her involvement with the local poetry scene. Leigh Anne met Katerina Stoykova-Klemer in either the second or third meeting of what would become Poezia. For those who don’t know, Katerina started a poetry group at Common Grounds over seven years ago. Since then, it has exploded into two writing groups meeting every week (poetry on Thursdays at 7PM and prose on Tuesdays at 7PM).

Leigh Anne is the mother of three boys, which she finds difficult not to write about.

“I write a lot about them. […] I can’t not do it, you know? So, yeah, the kids […] always make their way into my writing and then in terms of how I write, too. I have to really work to create a time and space where I can get stuff done and, you know, there’s no ideal time. And so, a lot of what I’m doing is working through the chaos of fighting and tattling.

“[…] This might sound terrible, but in a way, it’s also an escape. It’s nice to be able to say I’m going to go do this while you guys fist fight over Legos.” She laughed over her steaming latte. “‘I’m gonna go write a poem while you two bludgeon each other.'”

“I’ve for so long been in this role of ‘Mom’ and feel like it’s kind of a sin to lose, you know, those other parts of yourself. And so I tried to kind of (through writing and things like that), I started to get back to rediscovering myself, rediscovering these parts of myself that I let go dormant. And, you know, it felt really good.”

Not to pigeonhole herself as a mom writer or even a feminist writer, Leigh Anne Hornfeldt discussed the different directions she plans to take with her self-started press, Two of Cups. Her first book, an anthology about bourbon called Small Batch, just came out this month. I asked what she saw as the direction for the press in general.

“I wanna have a nice visual component for the press. I love broadsides, things like that. So I’m interested in doing those. […] Two of Cups is a tarot card. I’m interested in union and collaboration. I want to do things with a little bit of a twist. And I’m sure we’ll have our… you know, I’d like to publish chapbooks and things like that, but as long as I can get some collaboration, some funky alchemy going is kind of what I’m wanting.

“[…] My very simple desire would be to get my hands on as much goot poetry as I can and then share that in a way that those words deserve, you know? I want to make beautiful broadsides. I want to make beautiful books. I want something that…” She paused for a moment, contemplating over her coffee. “If I don’t have to put a lot of my energy into it, it’s probably not worth doing, you know what I mean?”

I asked if the press had any sort of unique identity (aside from collaboration). “I love, like, feminist poetry and stuff like that. but I don’t want to be the editor who only publishes things that I could have written, if that makes sense.

“And one of the things Matthew [Haughton] said to me that I think is a very important piece of advice is that an editor should be like a curator at a museum. You’re not gonna have a museum filled with nothing but Renoir; you want to have lots of different voices and perspectives presented. And that’s kind of what I want to do with this press. I don’t want to, you know, pigeon-hole ourselves into one specific type of voice or poet.”

On the topic of covering Kentucky writers, Ms. Hornfeldt said, “I’m trying to think of what I can say that hasn’t already been said. […] We have this rich tradition and important stories that need to be told. You know, the voices of this region are strong and fierce and they need to be shared, I think, with as many people as we can share them with. And they need to be protected.

“I think we’ve always known that what we have to say is important. And I think now it’s being recognized. I think this region is getting some recognition. […] It’s definitely well-deserved recognition. And I think that the more that it’s appreciated the better chance it has of being protected in that… I don’t want… I don’t like when things become too homogenized.[…] What I would hope for this region is that the voices continue to be strong and continue to be distinct.”

And as far as Small Batch, her press’s first book: “Our goal with this book was to print something that looks good but is cost effective. We could have raised our price point, but we didn’t want to price ourselves out. I want people to be able to afford to buy a copy of this book.”

She also poured syrupy praise over her partner in crime, Teneice Delgado of Wing City Chapbooks, for inspiring the anthology and (as it turns out) the press itself. “I can’t remember who, I think it might have been her, said I have bourbon for blood and I said, ‘Well, that would be a really good name for a band,’ and she said, ‘No. That would be a really good name for an anthology. And so now we, you know, that’s how the idea for this anthology started. It was kind of like, ‘Why not?’ And she said, ‘You should start your press. We should work on this.’ So everything happened at once.” She laughed out loud, as she often did during the interview. “Before I knew it, I had the project before I had the press started!”

As far as the business side of things, Leigh Anne demonstrated immense gratitude for Teneice’s work and asked that I make sure she gets the proper acknowledgements during this interview. (I think that’s what I’m doing right now, but I can’t be too sure. So, uh, Teneice? Leigh Anne says, “Thanks!”)

And the conversation wrapped around to different topics, from my interest in a Catwoman poem Ms. Hornfeldt wrote during Lexington Poetry Month to her involvement in the Teen Howl Poetry Series (which will be celebrating it’s second anniversary next week!). She actually read in July as the featured adult guest.

“I was nervous because kids keep it real, you know?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“If I suck then they’re not gonna cut me any slack.”

“I’m gonna quote you on that.”

“‘What if no one wants to sit by me when I’m done?'”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the idea of this seemingly unflappable persona, this mother of three who tackles three wild boys into a mini-van being taken down by a few snarky teenagers. “I was more nervous about that,” she said. “And I also think that part of it is, like… I wanted to give these kids something…” She searched for the right words, demonstrating a caution not normally reserved by an over-caffeinated poet before lunch. “I don’t want them to think that once you hit a certain age you’re totally lame and you start sucking. So I felt like, if I could get up there and really connect with them and maybe make this bridge that, you know, they’re gonna say, ‘Wow! I can keep doing this.’ You know? ‘When I’m thirty-something, I can be writing stuff that’s powerful‘ or whatever.

“What Elizabeth and Jay are doing is important.”

The “Elizabeth and Jay” she referred too are, of course, Elizabeth Beck and Jay McCoy of the Teen Howl Poetry Series, held the first Thursday of every month at the Morris Book Shop. During the event, a group of teenagers (and adults) gather to hear a more youthful attempt at what many of us are used to from Holler Poets and other poetry slams.

“I think you really get to a point where you feel like, if you can’t connect with someone, you’re gonna burst. And so, these kids have that. I also think it’s important (this might be a more eloquent way of saying what I was trying to say at first), I think it’s important that the adults, the older writers in this community, make themselves available to teenagers and kids.

“We need to be good mentors. We need to be as inviting and as encouraging because it’s going to transcend, you know, you’re going to transcend the poetry and suddenly you have a life experience, a very human experience of two people connecting and helping each other and learning and shaping each other.”

And in that idea of collaboration, of working towards real human connection to learn and change… In that idea, Leigh Anne Hornfeldt has cemented herself as an artist worth paying attention to. It’s the central idea of Holler (which Ms. Hornfeldt stated was “one of my favorite nights of the month.”) It’s the idea behind the Kentucky Women Writer’s Conference. Heck, it’s the idea behind every single conference and workshop and arts festival in the country. It’s all about that “funky alchemy” that comes from collaboration.

Small Batch is currently available from Two of Cups Press. You can find Leigh Anne Hornfeldt’s other book (East Main Aviary) at Morris books and online. And if you’re interested in the Catwoman poem I mentioned, check out Leigh Anne’s Lexington Poetry Month submissions.

And for those interested in showing your support in person, Leigh Anne Hornfeldt will be hosting a release party for Small Batch on October 12th at Louisville’s Down One Bourbon Bar as part of the Writer’s Block Festival. And if you’re in Louisville for that weekend, don’t forget to check out Accents Publishing at the Writer’s Block Festival, too!