To Hold My Own: An Interview with Betsy Joseph

Interview by Amanda Sanders

Betsy Joseph has accumulated a lifetime of experience in teaching and writing. Throughout her teaching career, she taught various creative writing courses. She has published two collections of poetry, Only So Many Autumns and Relatively Speaking, and her work has been featured in several journals and anthologies. She and her husband Bruce Jordan have also published Benches and Lighthouses, which feature pairings of photographs and haikus. Joseph finds inspiration in still-small moments and embraces the fluidity of life, allowing her changing circumstances to shape her writing. She currently resides in Dallas, Texas.

I have read your bio and poems on Texas Poetry Assignment, and I'm wondering what else you might want readers to know about you and your background as it relates to you and your poetry. Are there other experiences in workshops or readings or publications beyond Texas Poetry Assignment you want to share?

BJ: Since girlhood, I have turned to words for expressing and framing ideas and feelings. My father’s thirty-eight years as a newspaperman were no doubt a tremendous influence because I grew up around words. They floated in my ears and I could taste them on my tongue. In time I learned to be aware of the power of words and the stories they weave. In time I learned to use words to hold my own in the world.

I taught Memoir Writing for college credit to seniors in a retirement community for five years and general Creative writing classes to college students for a number of years during my teaching career. I participated in a writers group that met monthly for ten years and benefited considerably from the feedback. Through the years I have participated in readings at bookstores and writing retreats; these are enjoyable opportunities to meet fellow writers, to share writings, and to hone public speaking skills.

In addition to TPA publications, I’ve written a memoir about my varied teaching career, titled Classrooms and Their Characters; a poetry collection titled Only So Many Autumns; a co-authored collection of poetry titled Relatively Speaking. As well, I have poems published in numerous anthologies.

How would you describe your origin story as a poet? What are your first memories of reading and writing poetry? Which people, teachers, and poets were most influential to you in the beginning?

BJ: My earliest memories of poetry hark back to my father reading Eugene Fields’ work to me at bedtime. I particularly liked the poems “Little Boy Blue” and “Wynken, Blyken and Nod.” I don’t recall at what age I received a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses, but I was able to read it on my own, and that was a thrill. I recall writing short poems for my mother on Mother’s Day cards while in elementary school and continuing to dabble in poetry throughout high school, but I began writing in earnest during college and graduate school. Early favorite poets were Robert Frost and Walt Whitman because I found their poetry accessible and relatable.

What was your initial goal when you began writing more seriously? Did you ever imagine you would accomplish all that you have with your writing?

BJ: My initial goal was to balance my writing self with my parent self and my teaching self. Not surprisingly, my parent and teaching selves have blessed me by providing good fodder for my writing self. I wrote during my very busy years to remind myself of this other identity I hoped to cultivate more fully upon retirement. I have honestly surprised myself with my output and with the publications of my work.

How would you describe your writing process when it comes to poetry? How do you know when you are ready to write a poem and how does the drafting, revising, and editing process work for you?

BJ: I tend to write when I am moved by a particular emotion, incident, or person. I know I am ready to write when lines begin composing themselves in my mind while I am on my yoga mat or taking a long walk. Quiet movement galvanizes me. Sitting down to fully craft an idea, I write (or type) as quickly as I can knowing that the initial draft will undergo several iterations before the poem and I are satisfied. I enjoy both the revising and editing stages since they provide opportunities to let the piece simmer on low while I am considering other possible changes.

Stepping Stones

Much as a bullfrog jumps

from lily pad to lily pad,

so does each brave word in my poems

step lightly onto the first stone

to be followed by other word soldiers

landing securely or perhaps tentatively,

each following the one before it—

a whole string of possibilities—

some in pairs, others clearly loners,

but all intent on the mission at hand.

What topics or issues frequent your poems? Have those changed over time?

BJ: Topics that frequent my poems range from personal memories and experiences to family relationships to contemplations on nature and life to philosophical musings on current events. These topics have changed over time in so far as I have changed over time. I will come across poems I wrote several decades ago and find myself intrigued with the thoughts expressed by my earlier self. Meanwhile, I have moved on, shaped by many experiences I could not possibly have written about in the years before shedding my naivete on so many subjects.

I have read your poem "Palimpsests" on Texas Poetry Assignment. What do you recall about the inspiration for this poem? How does it reflect the choices you regularly make in crafting your poetry on the page? Shape? Line? Music? Comparison? Balance? Were there any new craft choices you made?

BJ: Inspiration for writing comes in different forms. I became acquainted with the word “palimpsest” in one of my graduate courses. In that particular instance, we were examining a photograph of a manuscript written over an earlier manuscript that had been somewhat erased, yet evidence of the original could still be detected. Skip forward several decades and I am looking in the mirror one morning while washing my face.

Bare of make-up, pink and fresh-faced, I had a moment of recognizing my younger face in the reflection, fleeting though the moment was. Then I stared into the mirror again and saw the me of today.

I wanted to write of the experience, and suddenly the first lines presented themselves while I was doing something relatively unimportant:

At this stage of life / we are palimpsests–

I knew from there I wanted to continue with this literary conceit to engage the reader with the novelty of considering the connection between human aging and the concept of an actual palimpsest.

My writing will often flow in a stream-of-consciousness fashion with seeming non-sequiturs, but I always aim to leave my reader with something palpable to grasp that is both personal and universal.

What advice would you give to young people who are interested in reading poetry, writing poetry, and publishing their work?

BJ: My advice to young people interested in reading and writing poetry is to study a variety of poets through the ages in order to appreciate how writers respond to the times in which they live and to observe that human experience is generally universal. Young people interested in publishing their work would greatly benefit from creative writing classes in which they are able to showcase their writing and learn from the feedback provided by the instructor and peers. Additionally, they would gain insight from being an audience to styles and subjects different from their own.

You mention that it is important for young poets to study a “variety of poets through the ages” in an effort to more fully understand how poets respond to the times in which they live. Are there any particular poets you might recommend for such a study?

BJ: A handful of poets I would recommend are the following: William Blake, A.E. Housman, Wilfred Owen, e.e. cummings, and Mary Oliver.

If you had to recommend one or two Texas Poetry Assignment poets to other readers, who might you suggest?

BJ: While it is difficult to cull only one or two from the many talented TPA poets who contribute regularly, I would surely recommend both Kathryn Jones and Vincent Hostak to other readers. Their styles are distinctly different but both express their attitudes toward subjects in powerful ways.

How would you distinguish contemporary poetry from poetry from earlier eras?

BJ: While each generation of writers leaves a distinct imprint on the literary world based on responses to their exterior and interior worlds, my observation is that poetry today follows fewer constraints than poetry from earlier eras. It has been interesting to follow the trajectory of poets’ voices in the past almost quarter century. I embrace William Blake’s assertion that “Poetry fettered, fetters the human race,” yet I cringe at the anger, vulgarity, and animosity that emanate from some of the voices I hear. This language feels gratuitous and detracts from rather than contributes to the perspective and emotions of the writer. At the same time, though, I admire poets who address issues that once were stifled because they were deemed inappropriate. How liberating to acknowledge subjects long considered taboo. Our culture has made significant progress in that regard.

I agree that there has been a definite shift in the types of voices present from earlier poetry to contemporary poetry. How do you think this might affect the teaching of poetry in both reading and writing?

BJ: More than ever, I believe we have come to tread more delicately when we approach discussions that may put some or many out of their "comfort zone." If handled with decorum, though, I don't see the need to refrain from healthy discussions regarding sensitive issues that appear in reading and writing assignments. We learn best when we learn from one another.

If you had a chance to ask a question to a poet you admire (living or dead), who is the poet and what would you ask?

BJ: If I could ask a question of any poet I admire, I would choose Billy Collins and my question would be: What is it like to live inside your head? My husband and I had the good fortune to attend “An Evening with Billy Collins” when he came to Dallas seven or eight years ago. I had been reading and teaching his poetry for several years at that time, so I greatly looked forward to that evening. He did not disappoint. I found him to be as droll and laconic in person as in his verse. After thirty or so minutes of listening to him introduce a poem and read, one after another, I wondered what it would be like to be in the head of one such as he. I wished I could stand up and ask that question in a clear, strong voice. But wait a minute. I did not need to ask. I am inside Billy Collins’ head in every poem of his I read because he has invited me in.

Amanda Sanders, a middle school teacher in San Angelo, Texas, holds a master's degree in English and shares her love of language with her husband, two daughters, and students.