Poet Interview: Caitlin Upshall
Caitlin Upshall is a British-American author from Washington State. Her work has been published by the tiny journal, OyeDrum, The Sweet Tree Review, Entropy Magazine, and others. In her spare time, she enjoys most things dinosaur-related, trivia nights, and reading scholarly articles on the Great Emu War.
What inspires you to write, and why?
I'm a big fan of using poetry to process emotions that feel too heavy. Most of my poems are therapeutic, and it's less about being inspired to write and more about needing to solve a problem and using writing as a tool to do that.
What are you currently reading and is it a good read or not, why?
I’m currently rereading A Quest for Tears by Seán Dwyer. It’s a memoir about his recovery after a traumatic brain injury and how it affected his writing capabilities, along with every other aspect of his life. Seán is a beautiful writer and I don't think it's a story that is told enough, especially from the perspective of someone in a creative field. I highly recommend it.
What are you working on next/what was your last project?
I'm working on a musical set during World War One. It's new territory; I've dabbled in songwriting and playwriting, but never merged the two together. The story is about a group of women in London and explores how they’re each affected by the war. It’s a challenging project at every turn, but I’m really enjoying trying something different.
Do you believe in writer’s block, and how would you deal with it?
I do, but I see it more as a knot made up of a dozen or so strings. It's not about breaking through a wall, it's just about untangling the knot. When I get to that point, I usually go for a long walk and by the time I get home, the knot seems easier to untangle.
Do you feel that sharing your poetry is a vulnerable process, and why do you feel that way?
Absolutely! I think having a good sense of your audience and environment in which you're sharing the poetry makes it a bit easier. There are some pieces that I only want to read at open mic because they’re transitory. I don't want them on the Internet forever, while other ones, like this, beg to be shared.
Do you take poetry classes or read books on poetry?
In college, we had to take a bunch of different creative writing classes, and poetry was the only one that I didn't take. I didn't really get into it until I started watching spoken word and slam poems. After that, I started reading more books about poetry and immersing myself in that culture as much as I could.
Do family and "real life" friends read your work?
Yes! I have a core group of friends who are always up for reading, but whether I share it or not really depends on what I’ve written. I'm very fortunate to have people in my life who will validate my work, no matter the subject, and that’s important. It makes me feel heard.
What is your revision process like?
With poetry, I usually read it out loud and record myself reading. When I get into it, sometimes I'll switch out words in the moment or add a line. After, I'll go back and listen to the recording to see what changed, if anything.
What is your writing process like?
To get a sense of the story I want to tell, I usually have to say it out loud. I'll use voice memos on my phone a lot, or just repeat things to myself until they’re memorized. Then, later on, I'll write them out in my journal and see what works and what doesn’t.
How do you research for your poems?
I try to do enough research to pull people in initially. I think that once people connect with the emotion in your poetry, the facts become less important. For instance, I wrote a poem about loving someone a few years ago and used stars as a metaphor. I had one sentence in the poem about space, and everything else was focused on love. Once people buy into the emotion, you don't have to worry too much about being scientifically correct. After all, it's a love poem, not a space poem.