Joelle's poem "So Lost are You in the Silk Night of Grief" won first place in the January 2017 issue.
She is a junior at Yeshivah of Flatbush in Brooklyn, New York.
This is her first entry into The Bedford Ledger, along with a haunting poem entitled "Void."
She is a junior at Yeshivah of Flatbush in Brooklyn, New York.
This is her first entry into The Bedford Ledger, along with a haunting poem entitled "Void."
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Tell us a little about yourself. “Consider incompleteness as a verb.” This is a hard question, so I default to Anne Carson quotes. I'm not incomplete, though. Maybe un-molded. Like some piece of rouge clay, I'm free of shape. I know things like my name and birthday, but those exist before I had the choice to feel secure in those decisions. What I'm trying to say is I'm 16, and I have a lot of time to sort myself out. When did you first start writing poetry? Stories I've been writing forever now, but poems... I think I wrote my first poem in the winter months of 6th grade. I loved the process as soon as I came upon it. Who or what inspires your love for writing/poetry? Poetry to me, is like exhaling. It's necessary for the body to expel. I think people who don't write poetry must be filled with so many thoughts- I don't know how they do it. It is paramount to my sanity to write. So maybe it's not passion; it's just another function I carry out to maintain homeostasis. |
Do you have any favorite poets or poems that you like to read or have influenced your style of writing? Everyone is a poet. This is vague, I'm sorry. But it's true. Teachers, friends, parents, siblings, etc. - have all said things that merit awards. To be specific to poets: Anne Carson, Margaret Atwood, Gillian Flynn, and Nietzsche have all played a role in my becoming. My favorite poem right now is: Jeremy Radin, from Slow Dance with Sasquatch, “The Heaven of Mud.” Give us some background on your writing - do you only write poetry? Do you write for pleasure? Have you won any other contests? I've only ever entered one other contest, last year with a poem that won a small award. I like to write stories, too. But I have an issue with finishing them. What was the inspiration or the story behind your winning poem? Grief. Not my own, but witnessing someone else's formulate in front of me. It's an odd thing. It's like the deconstruction of a person, it's almost uncomfortable. Losing someone to their own pain is difficult. Especially when you love them. But I guess it's part of life. |