Poet Interview: Lydia Price
Lydia Price is a Kentucky poet who is currently in love with the world at large. She is a sophomore at Taylor University where she is majoring in creative writing and minoring in professional writing. She has been published in Taylor University’s literary magazine, Parnassus, and she continues to seek out other publishing opportunities on her own. She is in the process of putting together her very first poetry collection and looks forward to sharing her work with the world. Most of the time, you’ll find Lydia wandering around in search of wild poems hiding in flower patches, returning her books to the library at the very last minute, or creating beauty in some other vein-like crocheting, baking, or painting. She encourages you to look around and pay attention to the wonder hiding in plain sight. Lydia thanks her mother for teaching her to love the poets, and thanks to the Author of life for putting poetry in her heart.
When did you become a poet? How did you know it was the right medium for your stories?
I suppose I took up the poet mantle around my junior year of high school, which was the first year I seriously studied poetry as part of my English class. Poetry is my language and my medium because it is exactly the right-sized pocket for the things I like to write about. I notice little things and take joy in them, and poems were precisely the format to capture those little moments of joy. I’ve always had a fondness for things that are small and easy to hold or slip into a pocket, and small poems feel like my small gift to the world.
What inspires you to write, and why?
Oh, goodness. I hate this question because doesn’t everything inspire me to write? People inspire me- teachers, friends, siblings, strangers. People are beautiful and delightfully strange. People say wonderful and miraculous things every minute of the day, and that makes me want to write. Being outside also inspires me. Nothing gets me in a writing mood more than wandering around my college campus under a big, Indiana sky full of clouds and colours. More than anything, the joy of the Lord inspires me to write. When I look around and see the wonders of the world, the beauties God made with a single breath, I cannot help but write.
Who are some of your literary or artistic crushes or influences, and why?
Haha, I love the phrasing of this question. I guess I’ll list three of my favourites. Gary D. Schmidt is one of my biggest literary role models because his mastery of prose and the narrative voice is just exquisite. I have never felt so intimate with characters as I have when reading Schmidt’s novels. Two of my biggest poet influencers are Billy Collins and Wendell Berry. I personally believe Billy Collins is a magician; he can make a poem out of anything at all. I fell in love with his poetry after reading his “Introduction to poetry” poem in my high school English class. His poems feel so familiar and kind, like the one jumper you will never get rid of because it fits so perfectly and is just so comfortable. Reading about all the “normal” topics in Billy Collins’s poems made me feel like there was room in the world for the poems I wanted to write. And lastly- Wendell Berry. As a Kentucky native, Wendell Berry has a special place in my heart. Berry has a reverence for the world that is second to none. He sees the sacredness and beauty in the natural world, in relationships, in neighbours, in homes, in quiet, and these themes transfer so beautifully into his poems. However, he isn’t afraid to use his poems to mourn the destruction of forests or rail against the cruelty of consumer culture. The raw emotion in Berry’s work is something I will always respect and admire. I want my poetic voice to be as decided and welcoming as Schmidt’s, my poems as warm and familiar as Collins’s, and my values as decided and unashamed as Berry’s.
What are you currently reading and is it a good read or not, why?
I am currently reading Jack by Marilynne Robinson. I would say it’s a good read, I think. The whole Gilead saga has been so captivating and such a treat to read. The books are almost entirely character development and relationship-driven, and I have really enjoyed that style. Jack is good because it makes me feel alive. However, it tears my heart. I am awakened to a new kind of mourning for a fictional character. I watch in hopeful hopelessness as he struggles so apathetically with his nature and his circumstances. I want so badly for his character arc to come to a resting place with redemption, but I fear this prodigal son may never come home. So, yes, Jack is a good read.
What are you working on next/what was your last project, and can you tell us a little about it?
My next project is really my first big one! This fall, I will begin to sort and collect my poems in hopes of publishing my first collection. The collection will centre around the joys and sorrows I experienced alongside my peers as we graduated from high school and began college in the throes of 2020. However, I am at the very beginning of the process, so we’ll see what this collection of mine wants to be!
What are some common themes you see in your own work?
Ooh, I love this question. Mmm, I’ll pick a top three. I write a lot about infinite beauty in infinitesimal moments, the beauty of the small and momentary. I would sum up that theme as the ‘holiness of beauty,’ and it pops up a lot in my work because I want to draw attention to these small and beautiful things. I want people to notice the mystery in the ordinary. I have found such joy and spiritual truth in appreciating the smallest of wonders, and I want to offer that joy to other people. A second common trend would be the struggle of growing up. In my writing, I mourn the loss of childhood and magic, I grapple with the inadequacy I feel as I begin adult life, and I fight for the validation of my feelings, wants, goals, and dreams. This is a big theme for me because it is the direct product of my current stage of life. Poetry has been a place where I can process the bigness and newness of college and weep for the changing of the little girl I used to be. I do not doubt I will continue to write on these topics as I continue into adulthood because it is important for people to recognize and validate the fraught mental and emotional struggles that new adults face on a day-to-day basis. And lastly, I write a lot about emotions. Whenever I encounter fierce joy or deep sorrow, that becomes a poem. I write about the state of my own heart in order that people might see themselves in me and feel that they are not alone in their feelings.
Do you believe in writer’s block and how would you deal with it?
Are there people who don’t believe in writer’s block? I totally believe in it; it has haunted me far too often for me to deny its existence. While writing is a craft and a process, it is also an art and a magic, so sometimes that magic just isn’t there. Sometimes my heart doesn’t have any words. Sometimes I sit down, and my writing well is bone dry. When this happens, I’ve decided that it’s ok to be mad about it for a minute. It’s OK to sit down and let out an “ugh” of disgust. After I’ve acknowledged my frustration, I’ll do one of two things: I sit down to read something about writing (Anne Lammott’s Bird by Bird remains a favourite), or I sit down and write anyway. If I decide to write, I give myself lots of grace because I know that what I’m about to write probably won’t be very good. It might even be very bad. And that’s OK. I believe that you have to write some terrible stuff in order to write some excellent stuff. There is room enough in the world for my bad poems.
What is the first book that made you cry, and why?
Haha, this one is a bit of a funny story. The first book that ever brought me to tears was Tolkien’s The Two Towers which my mother read out loud to me and my four siblings when I was about ten years old. When my mother read the scene where Sam mourns Frodo after the giant spider Shelob supposedly kills Frodo, I started absolutely bawling. My heart just broke for the death of Frodo after his long journey and struggle with the ring, and then broke again for Sam weeping all alone over his friend. My little sister then assured me that it would all be OK since Frodo was on the cover of the Return of the King film case.
Do family and "real life" friends read your work, and how does that make you feel?
Yes, I frequently let my friends and family read my poetry. Honestly, it makes me feel a lot of different emotions. It can be very flattering and very pleasing when they really enjoy my work and verbally appreciate different parts of my writing. I love that. But, it can be so crushing to get an apathetic or negative reaction to a poem or piece of writing that I worked really hard on or was really quite pleased with. Mostly, it makes me feel very seen, loved, and supported to share my poetry with the people I am close with and fond of.
What does "good poetry" mean to you, and why?
My mother always said that poetry is “the best words in the best places,” and I have largely held to that definition in my poetry career. I consider a poem to be “good” when I can see the author’s heart when I can see the care the poet tucked into every line. Good poetry is True with a capital T, which simply means that it touches something eternal and bone-deep in our souls. Good poetry is recognizable; it isn’t stuffy or presumptuous. Good poetry is kind and humble. However, sometimes good poetry stings; Truth can come at the end of a blade. Truth can be the sting you feel when you see your own flawed and fallen self in the words of a poet’s justice. Haha, maybe I don’t really know what good poetry looks like, but I know how good poetry feels.