Poet Interview: Shay Rose
Shaylee is pursuing a PhD in Biochemistry in Galway, Ireland. Poetry keeps her sane. She uses it throughout her day in the lab, reading and writing during incubation times. Science poetry makes up a large part of her personal writing and has also spurred an involvement in the online poetry journal Consilience, which publishes peer-reviewed science poetry. However, not all poetry is science-inspired; much is heavily influenced by childhood summers spent at her grandparent’s ranch in Montana, as well as musings on philosophy, religion, and art. She is a highly intuitive writer, hardly ever following set forms, but instead ‘panning for gold’ in her words until the words left on the page are meant to be there. Shaylee’s use of experimental forms such as ellipses, dashes, and highly repetitive synonyms throughout her writing attempts to mimic the speed of thought and rethought that occurs in an active mind. In her free time, Shaylee rows competitively, plays cello and guitar and makes a lot of random art like blankets and paintings. She has only recently started sharing her own poetry on Instagram (@shayrose_poetry), and by submitting poems to indie presses.
When did you become a poet? How did you know it was the right medium for your stories?
I don’t remember a time not writing poetry--my mom still brags to people about a poem I wrote in kindergarten that read, ‘The last day is a sad day/ the last day is fun / the last day is a sad day / but I like it done.” I use poetry constantly as a form of expression and stress relief. I love focusing on the words and how they work together to try to get at the intangibilities of the world.
What inspires you to write, and why?
‘Inspires’ is the wrong word--I am not inspired to write poetry; I am driven to write. Words bounce around my head, and I always feel better when I write them down. Sometimes I feel relief because the feeling is real when it is on paper, sometimes I have expunged a negative emotion from myself, and sometimes if the poem is good enough, I get a sense of pride over the documentation of my thoughts, and a desire to share them.
Who are some of your literary or artistic crushes or influences, and why?
The answer that pops into my head is ‘Taylor Swift,’ and I think that would confuse a lot of people unless they’ve listened to her two most recent albums, Folklore and Evermore. The way that she tells stories through her music is pure poetry.
What are you currently reading and is it a good read or not, why?
I’m currently reading “Rebekah” by Orson Scott Card. He’s one of my favourite writers and is most well known for “Enders’ Game” and the surrounding series. “Rebekah” is the second in a series about bringing biblical women to life, and they are quite stunning. Very unexpected, but I’m really enjoying the read.
What are you working on next/what was your last project, and can you tell us a little about it?
I’m trying to put together my first chapbook; I’ve done all the editing and am happy with it, but am so new to sharing poetry that I have no idea how to publish--whether to self-publish or find a publisher, or go freelance. The chapbook is a collection of poetry about wanting and striving for something better.
Tag three of your favourite IG poets we should read and why should we read them:
@curiouslycompasionatecontent is one of my favourites, as Lou Cavendish is a fantastic spoken-word poet who can speak so much faster than I can, when the poems are read aloud they have such energy and cadence. When you then take time to read and ponder them, they are so aware of mental health and personal issues. Another favourite IG poet is @_zoetry, as she is new to sharing poetry, and has a unique mix of art and poetry on her page. @spillingwords is also amazing, currently, the description on their page is “Spilling demons through words,” which I absolutely adore, as it is what I do when I write as well.
What are some common themes you see in your own work, and can you tell us why these themes keep reappearing?
I keep thinking about the smell of Montana in the summer, the muted way of cities in the rain, and the moon as it peeks into your bedroom window at night.
Although I grew up in Washington State, in a lot of ways I consider my childhood to have been in Montana. I have huge nostalgia for the time I spent on the ranch, running around with my cousins, and as the ranch was sold ten years back, I don’t think I’ll ever shake that nostalgia. I live in Galway, Ireland now, and the rain is constant and bipolar. There is something about writing poetry in the rain in a different country that just has such a different flavour to me. And the moon in the bedroom--it's the curse of most poets, insomnia is. But the moon is a friend, and sometimes there is loneliness looking out the window at night. A lot of my poetry recently has centred around these themes, and it seems to be waiting for something big to happen, some action to shake it out of its inaction.
Do you believe in writer’s block, and how would you deal with it?
I never sit down to try to write; I write when I have words in my head. So writer’s block doesn’t fully ever happen for me, because I’m not trying to produce, I write when I have a product in my head already. And then I edit when I have new words that fit.
This made for a difficult undergrad when I had to submit poems on a deadline. I don’t think I could ever survive as just a poet--I think the pressure of writing would take away the joy of writing. As it is, I sometimes allow myself time to write with the intent of writing, just to see what I’ll produce if given a blank piece of paper. But most of the time, poetry is an escape from the bustle of my normal life, where I’m constantly running Western Blots and Immunofluorescence assays (so much science) and trying to keep up with the pressures of a PhD in Biochemistry.
I think something that holds many would-be poets back is the need to be a Poet, to produce a Poem, to do so well, and to do so now. If you stare at that page and expect a perfect, stunning poem, you will never create it. Poetry is about expressing and trying to express the inexpressible. Of course, it will never be perfect, because perfection is unattainable. And, it will never be a good poem if you expect it to be anything more than barely coherent rambles at first. Poems need editing, or at least discretion, to become finished pieces. It takes time and patience, but it also takes intuition and adaptability. Some of my worst ‘writers’s block’ are actually poems that I might not finish for years because I’m not in the right headspace to edit them into their final version yet.
Do you feel that sharing your poetry is a vulnerable process, and why do you feel that way?
It is extremely vulnerable. I write about a lot of bad thoughts, and it gets the negativity out of my system. If you’re not expecting that, people ask me a lot if I’m okay...and yeah, I am, because I wrote it down, and it's not in my head anymore. My response to this is to not share most of my poetry with my parents anymore because they get this look on their faces that makes me uncomfortable. I write in hyperbole as well, so I probably never felt quite that dark, but it helped me nonetheless, and I know that it can help other people to know that those feelings are out there. The other thing I do is when I write collections of poetry, I tend to try to balance out the negative poems with positive ones so that there is a ‘net charge’ of positivity. Poetry has led me out of a lot of dark thoughts, and it would be unkind of me to write only the bad down and leave readers without the path back to the light.
How many unfinished or unpublished books do you have, and tell us about them?
I have a fully finished unpublished book of poetry called ‘Time Wears Boots’, and at least three other unfinished collections. They’re not finished because I don’t know what poems to include or not include, and I feel like something is missing from them. My ‘panning for gold’ method hasn’t panned out yet. I also have absolutely no idea how to go about publishing chapbooks, so that is a big hold up as well.
I’ve included my aesthetic statement for ‘Time Wears Boots’ below:
“This selection of my work centres around a single narrator, who is reflecting on (her) life, and yearning for more. This is a story about the emotional swings experienced when she realizes that in order to be happy and to make something of her life, change needs to occur. In some ways, this narrator is stagnant—almost no action occurs in these poems—but the lack of external movement is juxtaposed sharply by both inner turmoil and brilliant realizations.
Slowly she comes to grips with several facts: she didn’t like her job—she quits and finds a new one—she misses her childhood—she learns to act wild like a child again—she is lonely—she starts to open up to people and relationships.
Tinged with science and abstractions, and my experimental use of form, this is a book of poetry about yearning and dreaming, and realizing that there are ways to better yourself; a book of poetry about intricate knots and forgotten curiosities.
This is an intrinsically optimistic book of poetry, even if it talks about some dark shit. The ability to discuss the darkness is what gives us the ability to fight it, just as the ability to discuss our dreams is what allows us to pursue them.”
What is the first book that made you cry, and why?
“Where the Red Fern Grows” will always be the saddest book. It's about good dogs dying--how could you not cry?
Do you take poetry classes or read books on poetry, and why (not)?
I did in college, but I don’t often anymore. I’m working towards a doctorate in Biochemistry; I don’t have a lot of time for technical reading outside of the lab. I’d much rather use poetry as it fits into my life now, and save the in-depth learning for once I have my PhD and am not in lab 8 hours a day.
Do family and "real life" friends read your work, and how does that make you feel?
They do sometimes. The poems that are about them, or that are about me and very personal, I rarely share with people who know me. I think my words scare some people and offend others. So I don’t share those works with those people.
What does "good poetry" mean to you, and why?
I think what makes ‘poetry’ poetry, is calling it poetry. In a poem, every word is conscious and considered as it affects the whole. It is very much the needle before the branch, let alone seeing the tree before the forest. A poem must have aspirations of poetry. (Or if it is Dadaist/some post-modernism, then an obvious lack of aspirations and much beautiful nonsense). Each word and thought as it is penned should evict emotion. A good Poem is a snapshot, distillation, derivation, of human emotion and experience. It allows you to see with eyes not your own and breath with lungs that inhale different air. It may follow rules, or break them on purpose. It often has rhythm, rhyme, structure, stanzas, literary tools; but these do not make a Poem any more than hammer and nails and wood make a barn. That is--they build it, and they constitute it, but they do not glint red in the sun nor shed snow in winter nor house all the horses you wish you had. A Poem is an emotion or obvious lack thereof. If a Poem elicits only boredom, then it is not a true Poem (unless Ennui is named). And prose can be poetic, but never Poetry, because it goes by another name. So, Poetry: purposeful words that elicit a response. But, trying to define that which spans cultures, time, languages, and societal expectations will lead to mishandling and decay of that which is defined. Something so free cannot be bound by words. No Poet truly knows what force drives their pen.
What is your revision process like?
Sometimes a poem is done the moment I write it, but most of the time I scribble it on a napkin, make small changes when I type it into my master poetry list on One Note, and it then undergoes constant revision until I feel it's done. I have poems that probably will never be finished, but sometimes I will chance upon the words that finish a poem that I first penned two years ago. I’m calling this ‘panning for gold.’ We got to get rid of all the gravel.