Wondering about Watson
Interview by Kayla Pellar
E. D. Watson is a well-rounded poet, whose work is very well balanced and aesthetically unified. When not writing poetry, Watson works as an educator, which is prevalent in her poems. She is also a yoga instructor and cello player. I really enjoyed picking her creative brain and asking her the following interview questions.
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?
EDW: I've published one full-length collection and two chapbooks: Honey in the Vein (Bric-a-Brac Press, 2023), Via Dolorosa & Advent Wreath (2024), and Anorexorcism (Bottlecap Press, 2022). Via Dolorosa & Advent Wreath was the winner of the 2023 Cow Creek Chapbook Prize. I have an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from Texas State University, and am a certified Practitioner of Poetic Medicine with the Institute for Poetic Medicine. I have taught many poetry writing workshops both online and in person. In addition, I am part of a team who runs When the River Speaks, a community-powered art and poetry zine published through the San Marcos Public Library (where I also work). I host a quarterly open mic, and offer poetry workshops.
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?
EDW: I have been writing poetry and stories since I was a child. My first memory of writing poetry was in response to the Challenger space shuttle explosion. I think I turned to poetry quite naturally as a way to write through and explore my feelings, and to memorialize the astronauts who died. I continued to write in high school (angsty love poems, of course), but I stopped writing poetry for many years in my 20s and early 30s. It just wasn't a part of my life at all, and in hindsight, I'm not sure why, except that calling myself a "poet" suddenly seemed silly and pretentious to me. I was a college dropout and waitress working three jobs to make rent and I had very little time, I suppose. My return to poetry didn't happen until after I'd graduated with an MFA in fiction writing. Something about that educational process tainted fiction for me, and though I still enjoy reading it, I really haven't written much fiction since I received my MFA. Poetry on the other hand still seemed wild and untamed and fresh and free of formula or "shoulds." I've always found opaque poetry distasteful and alienating, so when I began exploring poetry again post-MFA I was drawn to poems I could understand without having to do a deep analysis and multiple reads, such as Hafez, Billy Collins, Mary Oliver, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton. These poets brought me back to poetry and gave me permission to write in a way that was straightforward and also beautiful.
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?
EDW: I always write everything by hand first. I think there is something magical that happens with writing by hand, a deeper bodily connection. I know I need to write a poem when I have an experience I want to preserve and explore, or when I have complicated feelings about something, or when I don't know how I feel -- the poem will tell me. If I go too long (more than a week or so) without writing, then I start to feel alienated from myself, tense, generally untethered, and a little dead inside. Revision usually occurs when I flip back through my notebooks and find poetry that is interesting. Maybe there's one or two standout lines, and those are my "entry" into the poem's subsequent drafts. I type them up so that I can more easily delete, cut, paste, and play around with enjambment/punctuation, which I don't bother with in my first drafts.
What topics or issues frequent your poems? Have those changed over time?
EDW: Topics I'm drawn to are the body, the natural world, spirituality, and, lately, ancestors. My first chapbook, Anorexorcism, explores my own recovery from anorexia in my teens and early twenties, and the factors that contributed to patterns of self-harm, namely toxic Christianity, gender identity, societal pressure, and sexuality. Honey in the Vein presents a feminist retelling of the life of Saint Mary of Egypt, a little-known 4th-century saint and former prostitute. My version offers an alternative interpretation of a woman who lived life on her own terms and had no need of the church at all. Via Dolorosa & Advent Wreath recounts my pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2018, where I grappled with my own disintegrating faith while awakening to the political reality faced by the people of Palestine, and my own American complicity in it. The common theme shared by these books is a complicated relationship with organized religion. But lately, I've been exploring humanity's relationship to the earth, and my relationship to my ancestors.
I have read your poem "I AM NOT ASHAMED OF CRYING AT WORK WHEN I HEAR ABOUT ANOTHER SCHOOL SHOOTING" 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?
EDW: I wrote this poem while at work, moments after hearing about the Uvalde school shooting. I could not stop crying and had to get someone to cover my desk shift while I pulled myself together in the back of the library. This was one of those rare instances when I did not write by hand first, because I was at work and didn't have my notebook. I wrote it on my phone, primarily because I needed to do something with my big, messy feelings. I was also embarrassed by my "unprofessional" emotionality. My coworkers understood and no one shamed me, but being aware of my embarrassment helped me see how messed up it is that we weren't all crying, and of course I don't cry every time there's a school shooting--and that struck me as kind of horrible and perverted. So this poem became for me a kind of anthem for public wailing, grief and rage, even in spaces where it might be considered inappropriate, because, it seems to me, we lose our humanity little by little as we become inured to such violence. I don't remember making a lot of changes to the original draft. Another rare instance of the poem pretty much coming out whole. However, in hindsight, I would change some things, such as the inconsistent use of capitalization. I wanted it to retain the breathless, raw feeling I experienced that day, rather than have a considered, edited feel--and I think it does feel that way, but now reading back over it, that inconsistency bothers me a little. If I could change it, I'd remove all capitalization so that it felt more like the first draft in the Notes app.
As far as choices I regularly make, enjambment is one of my favorite poetry tools. I love how meaning can be doubled or expanded with a simple click of the Enter button. My poems tend to naturally come out with a lot of rhyme. Sometimes it's too much, and I have to tone it down a little so the poem doesn't sound corny. A little rhyme, especially internal rhyming, is pleasing to the ear, but too much is distracting and sing-songy in my opinion.
What advice would you give to young people who are interested in reading poetry, writing poetry, and publishing their work?
EDW: My advice is: Do it! There's so much wonderful poetry out there. So much of what gets taught in school--at least when I was a kid--can be offputting. You know, Ye Olde Poesie kind of sixteenth-century stuff. Poetry is for everyone, not just English majors! There's amazing spoken word poetry people can easily find on YouTube, and so many up-and-coming young/queer/POC authors writing poetry that resonates with younger generations. Social media is a great way to discover new authors. Go to open mics and meet other poets! School or community writing groups can also be a good way to get feedback on work for those interested in learning how other people receive their writing--what you're doing right, and what doesn't land the way you hoped. The internet has also really leveled the playing field as far as publishing opportunities go.
Submittable accounts are free for writers, and that's a great way to find places seeking new work. You can also follow online submission notice groups, journals, and presses on social media to see who is taking submissions. Or go the DIY route and self-publish! There are so many options now, poets don't have to wait for some dude in an office in New York to like their work before they are able to share it with the world.
If you had to recommend one or two Texas Poetry Assignment poets to other readers, who might you suggest?
EDW: Gosh, there are so many! But if I can only choose two, then I have to say I've especially enjoyed poems by Sumera Saleem, and the late Loretta Diane Walker.
How would you distinguish contemporary poetry from poetry from earlier eras?
EDW: It seems to me that there's less emphasis now on form than there was say, 150 years ago--although there are contemporary poets engaging with old forms and doing really interesting work. One example that comes to mind is Terrance Hayes' American Sonnets For My Past and Future Assassin. My book, Honey in the Vein, is written in blank verse (unrhymed iambic tetrameter). But on the whole, I sense an urgency in what contemporary poetry is communicating--fewer idylls and more manifestos. I'm also heartened to see publishers really start to expand and include the voices of Black/brown/Indigenous/immigrant/queer poets in their catalogs. There's a surge in interest in Palestinian poetry right now that is so beautiful and important. Poetry is like a river flowing through humanity over a very long period of time: epic tales, worship poems to ancient gods, frilly little19th century odes, spoken word, and Instagram poets like Rupi Kaur -- it all reflects the changing sensibilities and languages of readers across cultures and time.
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?
EDW: OK, don't roll your eyes, but I'd love to be able to chill with Mary Oliver for an afternoon. It would be nice just to soak up nature with her and loll on the banks of Blackwater Pond or let her take me to her favorite meadow and show me the butterflies. I probably would just ask her the names of things, and I imagine we would each quietly point at things we wanted to direct one another's attention to, like a toad or a mushroom. And then we'd sit down together with our notebooks and we'd each bang out a poem and read them out loud to each other. And then share a warm, slightly smashed peanut butter sandwich from my pack and coffee from a thermos.
Besides poetry, what genres do you enjoy writing?
EDW: Other than journal entries and social media posts, I really only write poetry these days! But I do a lot of other things besides writing: I also teach yoga and play the cello!
Kayla Pellar is a fourth-year elementary school teacher in Athens, TX. She is currently working to obtain her Master of Arts Degree in the Angelo State University English program. She has recently found a new love and respect for poetry.
