Anthony Blake of Sarabande Books recently interviewed poet T. Crunk on his newest full-length, Biblia Pauperum (2013 Accents Publishing).

There seems to have been a decision in this collection to rely on the heavy repetition of key images—crows, the moon, mirrors, dust, etc. Is this an attempt to rust burn the mundane back into relevance for the reader, is it a grounding mechanism for otherwise ethereal poems, or is it meant to serve some other end?

Thanks so much for noticing.  I appreciate the close reading.  (Although you forgot to mention angels, time, blindness, salt, and a number of others.)  The recurrence is not at all a matter of decision — it’s just that, at various times in my writing life, I get a bit fixated on certain iconic motifs/emblems and spend a lot of ink exploring their significance, culturally, mythographically, phenomenologically, etc etc — and so they just keep popping up in the poems.  As a younger writer, I used to think this was a weakness — that I kept repeating myself, coming back to the same images over and over again — but I’ve since decided that the recurrent motif is not just a fact of my writing/thinking life, but a very strong thread for binding otherwise disparate poems together into a whole — As for what the reader experiences. . . I guess I can only hope that the reader experiences the same kind of open-endedness of exploration and discovery through these motifs that I discovered in chewing on them.

In many ways this collection feels like it comes from a similar place as your first collection, Living in the Resurrection. Most obviously, in moments bits of syntax and images are preserved (i.e. “What I had mistaken / for eternity // was only / the long silence // before the next / tick” is reminiscent of the earlier “What we mistook for flight / was only the long struggle / to surface”). These two collections span around 20 years. Are you still “waiting for the dumb to speak,” and despite these apparent consistencies what has changed or been resolved for you in this time?

Again, I appreciate the close reading.  And, again, I’d refer to much the same impulse as above — the impulse to chew on, not only bits of imagery, but even bits of syntax, in an attempt to get as much illuminating juice as possible from them.  And, more loftily, of course I am/we are all “waiting for the dumb to speak,” aren’t we? — in that, that’s what art and poetry and literature are, I guess:  some attempt to, respectfully and humbly, fathom some kind of communique, some word, from the otherwise bluntly mute and opaque world around us—

Your consistency as far as line is dramatic. Almost everywhere, lines end after only one or two feet for the entirety of Biblia Pauperum. This is definitely in contrast to previous collections that featured longer lines and regular interludes of prose-poetry. Why did you feel the shorter lines were more suitable for this collection?

I got really intrigued/obsessed by the kind of slippages and ambiguities that exist in English syntax — how certain groups of words might or might not fit with other groups of words to form coherent units of meaning — or not — or also — or, even better, all of the above at the same time — In order to explore that kind of thing, the language on the page really needed to be slowed down — it’s the kind of thing that you can easily miss if it goes by too fast — thus the shorter lines, and, also, those couplets, with all that beautiful beautiful white space around them. . .

The events of Biblia Pauperum are removed from the biographical life of the poet; the speaker recounts parables and Biblical events rather than direct memories from your own experience. Your previous works, New Covenant Bound and Living in the Resurrection don’t keep this distance and regularly we get insight into intimate moments of biography (your father’s box of foreign coins, you and your brother around a rusted oil barrel). Is there a conscious reason for this divergence and what effect does it hope to create?

Another good question, which I really appreciate.  One of the touchstones of my aesthetic life has always been Paul Elouard’s observation that:  “There is another world.  And it’s in this one.”  Biblia Pauperum seems very much of a piece with Living in the Resurrection on this account — the latter book tried to explore that ‘nother world in my own personal experience, and the former is trying to do the same with those simple realities of that “blooming, buzzing confusion” of the created world around us — So, not a divergence, really — just a continuation of the exploration — And, as for the effect I’m hoping the poems will create:  humility in face of the overwhelming surprisingness of the world and of our lives in it — a humility which we can only hope will lead us to greater grace in our dealings with each other.

A recent graduate of Centre College, Anthony Blake works as a Marketing & Editorial Assistant for Sarabande Books and as an Editor for literary magazine A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.

As part of a new feature, Accents is proud to spotlight the Bulgarian-language poets of The Season of Delicate Hunger. Our first is Kristin Dimitrova.

Kristin Dimitrova was born on May 19th, 1963 in Sofia. She is the author of 10 books of poetry, most recently The Garden of Expectations and the Opposite Door (2012), as well as a novel, two short story collections and a set of four travelogues. Kristin is also a co-scriptwriter of the feature film The Goat (2009). She has received five national awards for poetry, three for fiction and one for the translation of a selection of poems by English poet John Donne. Her poems, short stories and essays have been translated into 24 languages and published in 26 countries. She lives and works in Sofia.

What would you like for the American readers to know about Bulgarian poetry?

The concept of “Bulgarian literature”, I am afraid, is almost as general – and therefore vague – as the concept of the “American reading public”. This makes the question a bit difficult.

I’d like American readers to know that Bulgarian poetry exists. This might sound like a somewhat minimalist wish, but it is actually a big one, touching an optic blind spot that is rarely talked about. Writers, when they feel in the limelight of media attention, or are just drunk, tend to feel overgenerous and speak about the all-transcending power of literature – crossing boundaries, permeating forbidden territories, reaching people no matter where they are. If one writes in a language spoken by 7 million people, one cannot hold for long the illusion that this works both ways.

As for present-day Bulgarian poetry in particular, I am not sure it can be described adequately in national terms; at least, this is how it looks from the inside. Poetry, being an individual and therefore a very dynamic art – unlike folk music – depends more on personal voice than on tradition. Bulgarian tradition, with all its exceptions, used to be mostly patriotic verse in the 19^th c., modernism in the first half of the 20^th c., socialist realism in the second half, a host of choices and styles since the 90s: actually not too far from the tradition of any other nation with a similar historical fate.

An anthology, however, is not a study in ethnography, although it could be that as well. It is the possibility of communication and this is how I see it.

by Kristin Dimitrova.
Translated from Bulgarian by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer.

What would you like for the American readers to know about you personally?

I am the author of eleven books of poetry, one of them published in Ireland (A Visit to the Clockmaker, 2005), one in the UK (My Life in Squares, 2010) and one – The Cardplayer’s Morning – in the Czech Republic (Ráno hráče karet, 2013), two collections of short stories, Love and Death under the Crooked Pear Trees (2004), and The Secret Way of the Ink (2010) and a novel, Sabazius, translated into Russian (2012) and into Romanian (2013). There is more to this but it already sounds too detailed.

I was born and live in Sofia, I teach at the University of Sofia, I worked for a newspaper several years ago, I live with my husband who is a professor in English literature, and we have two children who are no children anymore, both of them copywriters. And we all take care of an odd-eyed cat which is deaf and dumb, dumb in the literal sense of the word, but with a very strong feeling of self-worth.

I have been to the US three times and I have some very good friends there. My impression is that America itself is much better than the “American dream”: it is full of real people.

Is there an American poet who has influenced you or has made a an impression on you? How do you interact with American poetry?

Edgar Allan Poe, Sylvia Plath, Mark Strand, Forrest Gander, Stanley Kunitz, Anne Sexton, e.e. cummings, Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, Emily Dickinson, Ezra Pound, T. S, Eliot, W. H. Auden – this is a disheveled list, it is so easy to forget about someone and then regret it. But some omissions are intentional. I have never really come to like the beat poets. I can appreciate the scope and power of Ginsberg’s verse, but no matter what he writes about I cannot shake off the feeling that he is too politically minded. I prefer poets who search for meaning rather than those who think they have found it and go around preaching it.

What forms of cultural exchange between Bulgaria and the U.S. would you find interesting, practical and helpful?

They are so few and far between that anything will do.

What do you wish for the anthology and its readers?

Dear reader, I wish you happy hours with this book and if the hours are not so happy, please, find another book and keep on reading. Literature is bigger than each one of us. However, knowing Katerina Klemer who made it all happen, I have my hopes.

You can read more of Kristin Dimitrova’s poetry in The Season of Delicate Hunger: Anthology of Contemporary Bulgarian Poetry, available now.

Bronson O’Quinn is everywhere. He is basically the internet and every cool person you have ever met. As blog Editor in Chief and intern for Accents Publishing, his posts have been in your house, on your phone, at your work. I think it is time you learned a little bit more about the ubiquitous Bronson O’Quinn.  

Why don’t we start with a little bit about Bronson the man. Who are you and what do you do when you aren’t writing, editing, posting and commenting on the Accents Publishing Blog?

I have a degree in English because I love the written word and a degree in linguistics because I love it spoken, too. I have been actively involved in the local literary scene for a few years now, but never to the extent that I am now. I quickly discovered the best way to learn is to help, so I’ve converted a thirst for knowledge into an interest in philanthropy. Mostly, I want to be able to print, bind, and publish the books that I personally write, but until my writing gets up to snuff (too many clichés, you see), I will continue to help hardworking artists whose work I admire.

I also enjoy good conversation and bad karaoke. I’m pretty outgoing, which tends to surprise folks. I think it’s because people expect extroverts to mug for attention. And don’t get me wrong, I love my time in the spotlight. But when my time’s over, I’m thrilled to pass the mic. After all, when you’re not on stage, you’re in the audience. And that’s half the fun.

What drew you to Accents? What made you say, “I’d like to dedicate my time to this particular press.”

Watching Katerina’s enthusiasm for and dedication to the poetry community really changed how I viewed the writing world. It had never occurred to me how much one person could make a difference in so many peoples’ lives. So when Katerina made the post asking for interns, I posted my CV an hour later. It wasn’t something I had to think about.

And this may sound shallow, but Accents makes pretty books. They’re hand-made but don’t look it, which is far more difficult to accomplish than you’d think. The textures are nice. The colors catch your attention without overwhelming your senses. There’s an elegant simplicity to the design that I admire. Sure, they aren’t the most jaw-droppingly beautiful books I’ve ever seen, but they aren’t trying to be. They’re not stressing the expensive, designer labels. They’re having a blast dressing from the thrift shop. For a bibliophile like myself, Accents Publishing’s books are the “girl next door.” Sorry if I just made this weird.

Tell us about the work you do as Editor in Chief of the Accents Publishing Blog.

I write for and run the blog. During Lexington Poetry Month, I formatted and posted everyone’s submissions onto the blog. Once June ended, I found myself with too much time on my hands, so I’ve been reaching out to local poets and figures in the literary community for writing prompts and interviews. I want to help the community, but most of the work I do is because I want to. I don’t want to pretend that I’m completely selfless, or anything. But rather than ask “How can this help me?” I like to ask “What would I want to see?” And as far as the Accents Blog is concerned, that means putting up content that generates discussion. That’s really what I’m excited about in the upcoming weeks.

Bronson reads at the Lexington Poetry Month gathering at the end of June 2013.

What can we look forward to in the coming weeks and months and years of the blog? Or even just with your collaboration with Accents?

I don’t want to give too much away, but I really want to encourage participation from Accents fans. The weekly writing prompts are an example of that. We also had a giveaway for Nettie Farris’s new chapbook, Communion, which was exciting, so I’d like more stuff like that.

But also, creating original and interesting content is important. We post a lot of Accents’ poems, which are great, but not really what the internet is designed for. We want to hear more from the readers. Accents Radio is awesome as far as learning about new artists and what’s happening around town. The blog shouldn’t be Accents trying to make noise, but rather a series of sparks igniting action bigger than us. Katerina inspired a lot of people with Lexington Poetry Month. I’m more concerned with what comes from that inspiration.

What have you learned so far from working on the blog?

I appreciate poetry more than I ever did. Loving language means experiencing it in all of its forms, and I had kind of passed poetry off as this one particular thing they teach you in school. And it’s not that. Not always, at least, and because I have to read so much poetry to post to the blog, I end up finding new definitions for what poetry can be.

But also, seeing the Lexington poetry community rise up the way it has… It’s really inspired me, both in my work but in life as well.

Tell us about your own work, your own writing. Don’t you have a published novella?

I write prose, mostly fiction. I strongly believe that a writer writes, so I spend a lot of time writing stories that will never see the light of day.

My novella, Dr Recluse, was an exercise in self-publishing that I am pretty embarrassed about. It’s hard to understand how gaining distance from one’s work is so important until you “perfect” a novel by combing through it 20 times in four days only to create something as legible as a first draft. Stephen King said you need to stash away your manuscript for six weeks before taking another look at it. I believe there’s truth to that. It took me nine months to write it and a week of editing it to make gobbledygook. It also helps to have beta readers, a professional story editor, a copy editor, and proof readers. Anyone who thinks writing is a solitary craft is doing it wrong.

What does Bronson O’Quinn’s future look like?

It’s hard to say. I have honestly made more progress in my literary career on a whim than I ever did through serious planning, so I’ll see where it goes. I just hope to create things that inspire, help my community as much as possible, and always have a third option when making lists.

Do you have any advice for aspiring bloggers and writers?

Sylvia Plath said, “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” And most self-doubt comes from nay-sayers or (even worse) the fear of other peoples’ doubt. I think a lot of it has to do with writers thinking too much about what other people will say or the consequences of their creative actions or some other self-conscious nonsense. To that extent, I would like to mesh a popular ad campaign for shoes with words from a fictional space Muppet: “Don’t think; do.” Momentum is so much stronger than talent. If you have both, nothing can stop you.

Parting words?

Merrily, merrily, merrily…

Robin, excited to get Matthew Haughton’s autograph

Robin LaMer Rahija has been an Accents intern about as long as I have, which means she started around April of this year. She is a graduate student at the University of Kentucky’s English department and is Poetry Editor for the University’s literary journal, Limestone.

Who are you, where are you from, and what brought you to Lexington?

I am Robin. I am from Kansas City, MO. I came to Lexington to go to school at UK.

Where do you work and what do you do in that position?

I am a graduate teacher in the English Department.

What do you enjoy outside of poetry?

I make books with my husband. We have a small publishing company called Rabbit Catastrophe Press. We’ve also been watching all the Alien movies. All we have left is Alien Vs. Predator, which he is refusing to watch.

What do you do for Accents Publishing?

I am an intern. I do mostly post-publication work like copy-editing and applying for book prizes.

When did you first meet Katerina? When did you first learn about Accents Publishing?

I think we met at the Writer’s Block Print Festival in 2010 in Louisville. Then we kept running into each other at Holler, etc. I went to a reading she did when her last book came out, and I was like, “This lady is amazing!” Even though it was her event, she saw me in the crowd and hugged me and asked me about my poetry. When I saw a call for interns on Facebook for Accents, I had to apply. Just being around Katerina makes me want to write more.

Haley Crigger, Robin LaMer Rahija, Morgan Adams, and Chris at the Carnegie Center’s Book Fair in May 2013

How would you like to see Accents grow?

Accents does so much already, with publishing and in the community. I really like the work with translations we’ve been doing. I’m looking forward to working on more projects in different languages.

What do you get out of your position with Accents?

I immediately went from dumb-poetry-ish hobby-kid to Poetry Professional. I had to learn to talk to people about creative work and about the other side of poetry—like keeping excel docs of grant info and caring about money.

What is Rabbit Catastrophe Review and how did it start?

It is a biannual (twice-a-year) lit journal of poetry, prose, and art. Greg (husband, Alien-hater) and I make it in our apartment. We started it when we moved to Lexington because we were bored and didn’t know anybody.

I understand you teach. What is the most important thing you tell your students?

It’s in the syllabus!

What is your favorite poem and why?

“Song of Myself” is the poem that made me like poetry when I thought it wasn’t important. He just lays it all out there. Man. It’s good. But as for my favorite, I suppose that changes all the time. Every new poem I read and like is my favorite for a while. I’m really into Mikey Swanberg right now.

Recommend a foreign poet?

This is a hard one I’ve been reading a lot of Bulgarian poetry lately :)

One of my favorite’s from the forthcoming anthology [The Season of Delicate Hunger: Anthology of Contemporary Poetry] is Kerana Angelova. Here is a section from her poem “Visions” :

Is it out of joy or out of grief

that someone is yelling in the night someone is yelling

what is this language what is this language

Thanks so much, Robin!

And if you want to check out more from Robin Lamer-Rahija, run over to Rabbit Catastrophe Press and pick up a copy of Rabbit Catastrophe Review, currently on its sixth issue!

Previously on Meet an Accents Intern:

• Meet an Accents Intern: Christopher McCurry

Please share one of your poems with the readers of the Accents Publishing blog. 

An unpublished poem from the previously mentioned series Anti-Memories:

“Collective Unconscious”

A mother dabs the juice end of a broken
aloevera stalk                         to                     a child’s burned hand.
The child smiles up as the scar forms, becomes
a gnarled walking stick for travel on
a dirt road known, yet never walked before.
The hand on the walking stick
.                                                is many hands,
are everyone’s hands, everyone in the world.
The world is another world, with no dirt roads.
The many feet step on each other, kick
up much dusty pride—how to trailblaze
what already burns eternal?  Still, some
try not to tread on caterpillars, toes,
ferns or succulents.  Some see: the hands
are one hand,               is                      a child’s burned hand.

Beautiful! Thank you for sharing. May all of us heal together. 

If it’s not too personal of a question, tell us about your son. What is he like? Do you think he’ll grow up to be a writer? 

Not at all, I love talking about Jax. He is a busy little man, just starting to crawl, and very physically strong. No health problems, which is remarkable, just on the small side for now. He’s definitely a communicator, very expressive, and generally a happy-face. He has probably the all-time best grin in the world, and I definitely get how many people think that about their own kids, but now it’s my turn to be right about that. Jax loves music, so maybe instead of a writer, he’ll be a musician? I’ll be very happy if he’s artistic, but any speculation is also projection, and I don’t want to spoil the surprise of what he’ll be. Right now, he’s sweet, active, loves baths, does not love green beans, gives kisses, and sleeps in a lot. He also goes to most non-job places we go and just rolls with it. We’re buddies.

Thank you so much for answering my questions, Stacia! Thank you for all you do and best of luck with everything. 

Katerina Stoykova-Klemer interviews poet and editor Stacia M. Fleegal.

Stacia M. Fleegal is the author of Versus (BlazeVOX 2011), Anatomy of a Shape-Shifter (Word Press 2010), and three chapbooks, most recently antidote (Winged City Press 2013). Her poetry has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Best of the Net 2011, North American Review, Fourth River, Mud Luscious, UCity Review, Barn Owl Review, Lunch Ticket, Stone Highway Review and others. She received an honorable mention in Crab Creek Review’s 2013 poetry contest, was nominated for Best of the Net 2012, and is a two-time Pushcart nominee. Co-founder and co-editor of Blood Lotus, she is also journalist, blogger and book reviewer of regional poetry for the York Daily Record/Sunday News in York, PA.

Continue reading →

Elizabeth Beck is a writer, artist, and teacher living in Lexington, KY. Her poetry has been called “Reflective, instructive, and intimate” (Bianca Spriggs) and deals with a lot of Beck’s personal struggles. Her first full-length, insignificant white girl, deals with sexual abuse, rape, and domestic violence and came out in April of this year. Beck followed that up with Interiors, an “escape space” written at the same time as iwg that takes the reader through a tour of her house.

Along with Jay McCoy, Elizabeth Beck founded the Teen Howl Poetry Series, a group that meets the first Thursday of every month at the Morris book shop in Lexington, KY. Teens read their own poetry and offer a much-needed space to express themselves creatively. Beck recently offered up a writing prompt for the Accents Blog and has even been featured on Accents Radio. I had a chance to talk with Ms. Beck and delve deeper into her creative process. Continue reading →

(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). Continue reading →