A Poet's Passion: Interviewing The Washington State Poet Laureate, Rena Priest

A Poet's Passion: Interviewing The Washington State Poet Laureate, Rena Priest

Introduction

When I graduated from Northwest University over three years ago with a passion for all things writing—especially poetry—I mentioned to my Dad that I was hoping to meet the new Washington State Poet Laureate, Rena Priest, who lived in Bellingham, my hometown. “Rena Priest, you say,” he responded, stroking his chin. "Sounds familiar.” As luck would have it, our fathers—both tribal fisherman—had been friends for many years, and we had no idea. We struck up a conversation over email and text, and soon, we were planning a meeting at the Fairhaven Firehouse Cafe. We had a great chat about poetry, writing, native heritage, and the life of the mind—all over a pleasant coffee-infused lunch. Before we left our lovely meeting, I asked Rena if she would be willing to do an email interview with me. She was delighted, despite her busy schedule, and I promised to send questions to her as soon as I could. Below are the fruits of our labor. I hope you enjoy the interview and Rena’s insights into poetry, writing, art, and what it means to be an author. But first, a bit about Rena.

Rena Priest is a Poet and an enrolled member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation. She was been appointed to serve as the Washington State Poet Laureate for the term of April 2021-2023. She is a Vadon Foundation Fellow, and recipient of an Allied Arts Foundation Professional Poets Award. Her debut collection, Patriarchy Blues, was published by MoonPath Press and received an American Book Award. She is a National Geographic Explorer (2018-2020) and a Jack Straw Writer (2019). She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. Her latest poetry collection, Sublime Subliminal, is available now. Check it out on her website.

Interview

So, Rena, what inspired you to become a writer, and what drew you to poetry in particular?

I have a feeling that a person will inevitably end up doing what they like. I write poetry because I enjoy it. It’s a way to make something beautiful out of something that is used mostly for utility. If someone gives you a box of toothpicks you can use them to pick your teeth, or you could add some glue and make a bridge. Same with words. You can use them just to say stuff, or you can add some glue and use them to connect. Also, I really enjoy games and puzzles. Poetry is a little bit of both. You take some words and see how they can fit together, and you create something fun and beautiful.

Who are some of your favorite poets and why? Do you mostly read poets of the past or more contemporary poets?

It changes all the time. I’ve answered this question in almost every interview and my answer always feels improvised, incomplete, or slightly contrived. I’m not sure why. Maybe because we change moment-to-moment and will experience a poem or poet differently in each version of our being. It all depends on what I need from a poem. Good poetry will always give you something you need.

Do you mostly write online or on paper, and why? If online, what program(s) do you use? 

I like to free-write on paper because I feel like it’s the most direct line from my mind to the page. Paper provides a portable and distraction-free setting. I sometimes draft poems in Word for the ease of moving lines around, so if I like something I’ve written on paper, I’ll edit and expand it in Word. I know the young people are using new platforms, but I’ve tried one and it was not intuitive at all, so I stick with pen and paper until I have to transfer to Word. For me, learning how to use all that stuff would take away valuable writing time.

What makes you stop and think, “that right there—that’s a poem.” How do you develop ideas for your poetry?

If a particular grouping of words has a little bit of a hum under it, I’ll sometimes follow it and see what it becomes. Sometimes it’s a poem. Sometimes it’s just an interesting phrase or set of ideas.

My dad is a fisherman. When he has a tough set, he says “If I caught ‘em all the time I’d be a catcherman.” The poems are out there swimming around under the surface of ordinary life. Over the years I’ve gotten a little bit better at knowing where to set my net, but the most important thing is getting out there and keeping your net in the water.

What has helped you improve your craft the most since you started writing?

Reading what I’ve written out loud. If something doesn’t flow, I’ll hear it when I read it back to myself.

When did you first realize you might be able to make writing more than just a hobby or passion?

I sort of feel like writing is more of a compulsion for me than a passion or a hobby. What I get from the writing process provides more nourishment to my daily life than the modest stream of income generated by what the process produces. I think if you were to crunch the numbers, I’m financially and temporally way in the red with my writing career. But on a career satisfaction scale, I’m doing pretty well.

For writers newly entering the big bad world of editing and publishing, what are a few things you wish you had done earlier as a writer, and how can younger writers start doing things now that will benefit them later?

I don’t know if any part of my process could have been done earlier. It’s all about being where you are and learning what you're supposed to learn while you're there. Each path is unique. For commercial publishing, I would say learn how to query and do it often. See where your voice syncs up with what publishers, editors, and agents are looking for. For paths in poetry, I’d say mingle. Go to conferences, go to readings, do an MFA program, meet people, edit a journal, teach workshops, and apply for residencies. Poets, in my experience, are lovely people, and very fun to hang out with; and poetry needs personal connections in order to spread to larger audiences. If you’re a poet, it’s beneficial and inevitable that you will genuinely enjoy the company of poets and thus find yourself enmeshed in one—or several—poetry communities. This is good. Being present and generous is a big part of the job. 

Poets often have a fascinating way of perceiving the world and art in general. What are some of your favorite novels, movies, and songs? How do you think they are connected to your writing?

It’s hard to choose favorites. The novels I’ve read most recently are Catch-22, by Joseph Heller, a YA novel called The Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Bouley, and a sci-fi novel called Embassytown by China Miéville. They were all excellent, but very different from one another. I love to read for pleasure, and a good book satisfies in the same way as a well-crafted meal. There are plenty of memorable ones, but who could really say for sure which was the absolute best? Same for movies.

I like Jim Jarmusch movies and movies featuring John Cusack. I like movies about spies and assassins and people succumbing to their worst impulses. Lately, I have enjoyed old movies where people smoke indoors and say inappropriate things. It’s interesting to see how fashions and attitudes change. I thought it was exciting the way “Parasite” looked at economic class strata, a topic American films have yet to reckon with. Another particularly beautiful and memorable movie that comes to mind is called “In the Mood for Love.” It was made in the year 2000, but it evokes another time and place so seamlessly that the world of the film engulfs you. It’s beautiful.

As for music, music informs my work by showing me that there are no hard and fast rules in lyricism. Everyone comes at it a little differently and words are endlessly versatile. You can make them do just about anything you need them to do. I grew up in the analog age, where you bought and listened to whole albums and had favorite bands or artists. Certain bands mark certain eras in my life. Favorites include:

Pixies, Violent Femmes, Velvet Underground, Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie, Pavement, Paul Simon, Talking Heads, Elliott Smith, The Clash, Johnny Cash, Fleetwood Mac, Wilco, Leonard Cohen, Vampire Weekend, Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, Steely Dan, Arcade Fire, Angel Olsen, Devendra Banhart, Townes Van Zandt, Beyonce, and Kendrick Lamar. Lately, it’s all about individual songs that make me happy whenever I hear them. I love so many, but Crimewave by Crystal Castles, Wow by Beck, Wake Up in the Sky by Gucci Mane, Bruno Mars, & Kodak Black, You Let My Tyres Down by Tropical F*** Storm, Juicy by Doja Cat, and Jamestown Ferry by Charlie Crocket come to mind.

What happy accidents have you experienced on the way to becoming a published author?

I’ve heard that when you’re following the path you’re meant to be on, you’ll experience synchronicity like the stars have aligned to make your dreams come true. This is how the best parts of my writing life have felt. I’ve had so many amazing experiences and been able to realize many of my most whimsical daydreams through following my ridiculous heart down this crazy path of poetry. I remember wishing as a child that I could live in a school, or a castle, or a cottage in the woods. As an adult, I have sometimes wished I had someone to prepare my meals and do the dishes so that I could lay around and read and write all day. I have gotten to experience all of these settings and amenities by attending writer’s residencies, and though I had a fabulous time living in a school for a week, a castle for a month, and a cottage in the woods for three weeks in the summer, I was always happy to return to my regular house to lead my regular life—and do my own dishes.

What made you decide to get an MFA (Master of Fine Arts degree), and how can someone tell if an MFA is right for them?

I didn’t want to write grants anymore and felt like my best option was to go all-in on something I loved. In hindsight, the way I went about it was reckless, but I’m glad I did it. I’ve rarely been happy doing the sensible thing. It’s a blessing and a curse. I ended up writing grants again after grad school, but I was also writing better poetry. I’d say that if not pursuing your craft makes you feel bad, then an MFA is right for you. On the other hand, I think an MFA is right for everyone. If an MFA were mandatory for living in a society, the world would be a much more beautiful place.

As a Native American, how does your heritage impact your poetry? When do you find yourself fighting against—or working with—the assumptions and stereotypes that come with your heritage in your writing and everyday life?

In my tribal community, leaders are held in the highest regard and our children grow up being groomed to hold leadership roles. Of course, this is because we need strong, capable leaders. On the other hand, in my experience, if you don’t make the cut as a star athlete, a speaker, or a traditional culture bearer, you sort of fade into the background. In this way, I always felt like my interests and abilities in literature had no value. As an adult, I didn’t see a way to contribute to the health or well-being of my community through my creative work. I felt like it was frivolous because I wasn’t out there trying to work with the legislature or supreme court to fight for our rights.

On the other hand, my work gave me what I needed to survive. What I see day-to-day in my own tribal community is a need for ways to pass the time and process grief, historical trauma, and the existential malaise that comes from having a set of values that don’t resonate within a patriarchal, capitalistic society. I also see a deep need for our lives to be reflected through stories. We can overcome these challenges by immersing ourselves in poetry and literature. I’m trying to make poetry glamorous and appealing, worthy of the type of attention given to football players or aspiring tribal politicians. After all, storytellers are the makers of worlds.

As for fighting against—or working with—the assumptions and stereotypes that come with being a Native writer, I’ve had to be very patient and deliberate in responding to certain questions from audience members. I’ve often wondered if publishers have rejected my work because it didn’t fit their idea of what Indian poetry should be. In the end, the opportunities I miss out on are not for me. I keep working until the right opportunities present themselves.

Have you thought about venturing into other kinds of writing, like fiction or nonfiction?

I’ve finished NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) twice. The second time (2018) I got a somewhat coherent manuscript for my efforts. I tinker with it from time to time to see if I can get it into shape to send out, but I might need to break it up into short stories and send them out to see if anyone wants them. I have one excerpt coming out in a journal later this year.

To be fair, I don’t think I’ve written enough fiction to produce elegant stories. I feel like everything I write in prose is a little clunky. You can see the seams, the awkward, meandering unevenness of my stitching. I have no training in writing fiction, but I enjoy it. I’ve gotten a little bit of attention for a few of my non-fiction pieces, and I like writing non-fiction too, so we’ll see if I can carve out some writing time and bring a few more of those pieces into being.

What are the best parts of being a writer to you? What made you fall in love with the writer’s life, and what keeps that love alive?

For me, the best part of being a writer is having a cheap, portable, and inexhaustible form of entertainment. To dream while awake, and to be aware of my own mind as a resource for stories, poems, and oddities is kind of awesome. I also really like paper—the connection and friction of a pen against paper. It’s cool that I can take something inanimate and use a series of lines and curves to make it come to life in the mind of a reader. Mary Ruefle, in her Short Lecture on Evolution, says, “Writing and reading are ways the brain can contain itself outside of itself. If you can’t remember the ingredients you need to make dinner, you make a list and voilà—a bit of your brain gets carried outside of itself...  When you hold a book in your hands, you are holding a piece of cerebrum in your hands.” I’ve heard someone say that children are the hearts of their mothers walking around in the world. Books and poems are the minds of writers walking around in other people’s minds and hearts. That is what keeps my love for writing alive.

Many thanks to Rena for her time and willingness to meet with me in person and do an interview despite her crazy schedule. It turns out they keep the poet laureate pretty busy! If you're looking for something to keep you busy, feel free to check out Rena's website and buy one of her excellent poetry collections, or just survey some of the work she has posted in various online and in-print journals, also available on her website.