A Cup of Coffee with Zoe Cunniffe
Zoe Cunniffe is a poet and singer-songwriter from Washington, DC. She has previously been published in literary journals such as Blue Marble Review, New Reader Magazine, Doghouse Press, and Velvet Fields Magazine. Zoe can be found on Instagram at @there.are.stillbeautifulthings.
Who are some of your literary or artistic crushes or influences?
Some of my main influences are Kevin Wilson, Claudia Dey, and Abby Geni.
What are you currently reading?
The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
What are you working on next/what was your last project?
My main focus right now is on editing the novel I’m currently working on. I’m hoping to publish it once I’m finished with it, but I still have a lot of work I plan to do in editing.
Tag three of your favourite IG poets we should read:
@night.light.soul @cinnamonwords and @nighthopper
How do you beat writer's block?
I make myself write something every day. Even if I don’t have any ideas and what I end up writing is completely nonsensical, it keeps me in the habit of writing consistently. If I’m really stuck, I also like to use prompts to help me find a starting point for writing.
Do you feel that sharing your poetry is a vulnerable process?
I definitely find it to be a vulnerable process, especially with poetry inspired by events from my life. I feel pretty comfortable sharing poetry with strangers online, but I don’t usually show it to people I know in real life.
How many unfinished or unpublished books do you have?
I am currently working on two unfinished books—one that I am finishing up the first draft of, and another that is in the last stages of the editing process.
What does "good poetry" mean to you?
To me, good poetry is anything that’s emotionally honest and evokes an emotional reaction in the reader. It’s really important to me that poetry doesn’t rely on clichés and finds new ways to say things. I also think it’s important for poets not to be too direct, and instead to leave the message of the poem up to interpretation by the reader.
What is your revision process like?
When revising poetry, I like to sit down and edit a set of poems all at once. I usually don’t think a lot when working on a first draft and just write what comes to me first, so a lot of my revision involves taking out parts that don’t add to the poem. More recently, I’ve spent a lot of time during revision working on formatting and trying to find new and interesting ways to format my poetry.
What is your writing process like?
I tend to write right before I go to bed at night because this is the time when it’s easiest for me to find inspiration. My New Year’s resolution for 2021 was to write something every single night, whether it’s a poem or part of the book I’m working on, and so far I haven’t broken it. With poetry, I usually use a prompt to start, which is usually a song, a phrase, a photograph, or another poem. When I’m working on my book, I tend to write out of order and write whatever scenes I think of first, regardless of where they fall chronologically within the book.