1. What or who gives you inspiration and perspiration?

Many number of things, really. Music, a classic novel, a conversation I happened to overhear; practically anything can give inspiration. Finding that perfect poem I wanted to write written by someone else (and written better) is what causes perspiration. Well, that and the summers here in Ohio.


2. Have you always wanted to write, or did you have a secret desire for something else, like spelunking?

Like many young girls, I wanted to be a vet (an animal doctor not the Vietnam kind). That quickly flew out the window when I realized I couldn't stomach the sight of blood. I've wanted to be a writer (poet, novelist) from the moment I learned S.E. Hinton wrote her first book while still in high school. While that dream was never realized, I've been writing stories, poetry and journal entries ever since.


3. Do awards and accolades make you swoon? Have there been any that you're particularly swoon-y about that you've gotten?

Not really. I think everyone enjoys the recognition that comes with awards (and accolades) but receiving one (or two or three) isn't an ambition of mine. As for an award that made me swoon-y . . . I would have to say the award I won for guessing the correct number of jellybeans in a jar. I was in the fifth grade and received the aforementioned jar of 365 jelly beans. They were very tasty jelly beans.


4. When you're not leaving your poetic footprint, what else in the world makes you warm and fuzzy?

Babies. I love all babies. Baby animals, baby carrots, little human babies without the ability to speak. I'm not fond of any of them once they become non-babies, though. Music, reading, surfing the internet, horseback riding and the color pink all make me happy. Oh, and coffee. I love my coffee.


5. Give me names. Who are the best new poets, in your opinion?

There are so many names popping up in my head right now. I had recently discovered an amazing poem "The Kingdom" by Douglas Goetsch. Another poet I've become infatuated with is Martin Vest. His poem "Dented Moon" is perhaps my favorite contemporary poem. After reading Kendall A. Bell's 10 questions, I looked up Kristy Bowen and instantly fell in love with her work. Mary Kerkes, though mainly unpublished, is another poet I'm impressed with.


6. Best of the Net or Pushcart? Which matters more and why?

I think they both are equally important. I believe the Pushcart doesn't give online journals the coverage they deserve, so Best of the Net is important to those poets who have been published online and gives recognition to the lit mags which publish them. While I won't say the Pushcart is snobby, I do think they gloss over important poets who happen to have been published exclusively online.


7. Then and now. What poem made you start writing and what poem do you absolutely love right this very moment?

Oddly, the poem that made me first write poetry is one I found of my father's that he had written when he was younger. It was buried in a folder under drawings of scantily clad women and other oddities and I instantly fell in love with it. I immediately found my way to the library and checked out all the poetry books I could and spent a summer buried in the pages of Keats, Byron and Dylan Thomas. While writing prose/novels is important to me, poetry has been an obsession since I first opened that folder.

The poem I'm absolutely enamored with right now would have to be "Dented Moon."


8. Are online poetry 'zines a crushing blow to traditional print 'zines, or are they the meat and potatoes of the poetry world now? Also, which do you prefer?

In this "give-it-to-me-now" age of computers and internet, I think e-zines are becoming an important venue in poetry. While nothing beats holding a print copy of one's work, I find a poet is more widely read on the internet. Who knows, maybe some teenager, looking for a quick answer to a homework question, will stumble onto that one poem that makes them want to write. Crazier things have happened.


9. Where do you see yourself and your poems in five years?

Half-naked on a beach in Brazil. My poems, that is. I'll be too old to be naked anywhere.

I honestly don't know where I'll be in five years. Hopefully more widely published, maybe a chapbook or two . . . five years is a long time. Perhaps I'll be writing sonnets or traditional haiku or have made the transition to the more prose-y side of writing. To use the old cliche, the (poetry) world is my oyster.


10. What are the ingredients for a tasty poem?

Avocados, pickles, cottonseed oil and rat tails. Seriously, I haven't read many good poems which contain one of the four. We need more poems about avocados, fewer poems about cicadas.

Imagery is a main ingredient for any decent poem. A poet can say any number of things as long as the poem has striking imagery. A mouth-dropping opening line doesn't hurt, either. I adore a poem I can relate to in some way, or one that makes me strive to be a better poet. I always love stumbling across one of those. Also, a poem which confronts an ordinary subject in an extraordinary way.