Jennifer
MacBain-Stephens went to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and currently lives in
the Washington, DC, area with her family. She is the author of six chapbooks. Recent ones
are out from Dancing
Girl Press, Be About it Press, and Shirt Pocket Press. Her first full-length poetry
collection is forthcoming from Lucky
Bastard Press. Recent work can be seen / is forthcoming at Pretty Owl Poetry, Gargoyle, Jet Fuel Review, glitterMOB, Pith,
So to Speak, Apple Valley Review, Otis Nebula, FreezeRay, Entropy,
Right Hand Pointing, and
decomP.
DS: Why
do you write poetry?
JMS: I am probably going to sound like a
broken record but fuck it. I write poetry to make sense of the noise that is in
my head. Words make sense to me when I write them down. I grew up with four
older brothers, and I always remember writing letters to members of my
family when I felt something was unfair or if someone was being mean to
me. It was better than screaming. (Though screaming also sometimes worked.) So
instead of going to bed, I would hide under my desk and write a letter and then
sneak out, or I thought no one could see me--I am sure I was just being
ignored-- and slide the letter under the bedroom door of the person in
question.
I also like how poems can be short
since I have some attention challenges.
DS: What do you hope to
find in poems written by other people?
JMS: I love reading a poem and just
feeling YES, I GET IT. That is the best feeling in the world to me when you
just feel a kinship with another poet/poem. It definitely helps in not feeling
alone in the world to read a voice that you “recognize” and then think,
well see, I’m not a freak because they get it too. :) I also like being surprised by what words they use--like I hate it when I know
how something is going to end. I’d rather it make no sense to me or just
possess a sliver of sense rather than tie it up neatly with a bow. Though
there is a place for these poems in the world as well. I just prefer the other
kind.
DS: Describe your works in
progress.
JMS: I just wrapped up a chapbook
called Clown Machine that I really love--I guess at its heart it is
about disguises and art and tangents and does it matter if we wear masks?
I sort of came to the conclusion (in the poems) that it doesn’t matter--maybe.
It’s up in the air. (But I like that, I don’t like spoon-feeding readers--I
like them to come to their own conclusions.)
I am also writing these tiny poems
that all begin with the same line: “She came out from under the bed.”
When one of my writer friends read some of these and said that I should write a
horror movie, it was the best compliment!
We start our reviews up again for TheInfoxicated Corner at TheThe Poetry.com, so keep a look out for those in the
next week or so!
I also have these collaborative
poems that I am trying to find a home for.
DS: What are your hopes
for the future of poetry?
JMS: One of my hopes for poetry--and I
totally think is possible--is there should be more venues and reading events, and it should be like rock music. Like it should just be huge and big and glam
but everyone should still be nice and respectful. Like New York has a great
mingling scene with Dead Rabbits reading series, Great Weather for Media,
Flapperhouse, Luna Luna--all of these readings and poets are sort of
intermingling now, and that is awesome. It would be awesome to bring more poetry
to the people so to speak. (Pittsburgh Poetry Houses is doing this.) Like
I know my neighbor Fran would just LOVE it if she was exposed
to more modern, inclusive poetry. Everyone still just thinks of
Poe and Whitman and Keats when you run up to them
and say “POETRY.” The recent poetry write up in the New YorkTimes (where Bloof Books had some great press) is a start. ROCK STARS.
Jennifer’s chapbooks:
xx poems (forthcoming)
Jennifer's full-length book:
Your Best Asset is a White LaceDress ( forthcoming)
Recent poems online:
Jennifer’s website:
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