Let us talk Process (long)

Something awesome today is courtesy of a Gchat with poet Mary Chen, an upcoming MFA student in Minneapolis, about how her mind works when she’s writing and the power of poetry to take established things and mess with them. Gchat editing is tedious and I'm kind of busy today, so I didn't.

me: I am really digging your (series of poems about monkey king Sun Wu Kong of Chinese folklore).
how did the idea come to be?
let us talk Process.
pretend I am interviewing you about your famous book
Mary: i think i just really like the idea of mutilated mythology
i like taking something that is deeply familiar and doing something strange to it
and i grew up with sun wu kong
me: nods solemnly
Mary: the monkey king. and in middle school i did a project on him... and i made an illustrated book and everything
me: so in some ways, then, you are channeling the understanding your younger self might have had?
Mary: so i think i was secretly obsessed, and i didn't know it
hm, i don't know
i don't think i had any understanding at all
me: i see
Mary: and I still don't
which is why I have to write about him
so I can understand it
me: has writing added anything to your picture of him?
so far?
Mary: hehehe
um
I don't think it has added to it. I think I just made a whole new one. it really has nothing to do with sun wu kong
he's just a shell
and he allows me to do strange, surreal things that I think is difficult to get away with nowadays. I can't just make up a story about a monkey king, but people will listen if I'm just doing something bad to their beloved fable
me: nod
do you feel using something that is "real" to go in your own direction adds any limits? in comparison to using a made-up monkey king?
Mary: I guess it does. But very limited limits!
me: how so!
Mary: like, it's a monkey
so I can't be like: sun wu kong was a dog
But... even so. I have written a poem in which Grendel was a woman
me: (which was a big hit for you!)
Mary: I don't have to keep to the actual story of Journey to the West, but I like to tangentially reference it, and I like the pre-made character names
lol
yes, surprisingly so
me: has anyone come forward and objected to your use of Sun Wu Kong for your own purposes?
Mary: not yet. because only 4 people know about it
and they're poets. so they know it's ok to steal
me: nod of course.
Mary: i feel like people let poets get away with things. since we're the ones who made up the epics in the first place
so it's like a club in which we make up myths in a pot
me: special invention club
Mary: yeah, the SIC
me: I like this interpretation.
Mary: me too
me: sometimes, and now I am dropping my fake interview, I also like the poet's role as interpreter of true things.
but pure description bores me.
Mary: i agree
that's when i put a poem down
me: I'm struggling through a book right now that is like that
Mary: poetry?
me: unfortunately, I have sufficient OCD that I can't not finish it.
yeah
(name)
$1 at Barnes'n'Noble
COMPULSION
Mary: isn't that a dude from UW
me: possibly?
boring
Mary: lol
superficial poems suck
me: he had one line I liked
in 46 pages
Mary: the potential problem with using mythical characters is it can come off very superficial. like you're just using it to add a zing of epicness
me: nod
Mary: you're a cute interviewer
me: I think it can be tempting to just drop the name and run away

me: which is lazy
fidget, blush
er, um, maybe
um
Mary: cool
me: back to myth, though.
Mary: anyway it depends on how you drop it
me: right
you can't just say "zeus" and run away
Mary: hehe
me: because Zeus invokes a lot of things
and you either need to support that
Mary: yeah. i used Zeus in an earlier poem this week
me: or make the decision to twist it
it's all about making decisions, I think
Mary: interesting
i have a very nebulous sense of creating
me: it doesn't have to be a firm, three-page-essay decision, I guess
Mary: :)
I think i just stumble around stubbornly
that's what I do
me: I don't see your work as being random, though
like, in high school, I'd say, "I need a sense of grandiosity" and add a random grandiose word and be done.
Mary: well, I have a very dense idea of what I want to express, but it's hard to find words
teehee
so it's like i stumble around, but with a definite pattern
i also like narrative. but not too much
me: I noticed that!
Mary: because narrative poems that don't do anything interesting should be fiction
me: I envy your lack of narrative
Mary: oh, i usually feel like i have too much
me: do you think there's even a small place for narratives that do nothing but use poetic line breaks?
Mary: yes
me: like the line breaks themselves can be interesting enough in banal words
Mary: i think line breaks are special if you do it right
me: right
yes
emphatic nod
Mary: it makes you look closer
and it makes you think about what is happening
also it adds subtext, depending on where you break it
i usually think about it after the fact
that is how i approach life
Mary: i just break mine whenever it pauses in my brain
and then change it later
maybe
me: thanks for your insights, Ms. Chen
Mary: it was a pleasure talking to you
me: I am really thrilled to read your upcoming collection
Mary: i'm thrilled that you are
me: do you have anything else you would like to tell the readers of Some Magazine?
Mary: Calm down
everything will be ok
even though it might suck
for a long time
me: wise words from a talented young poet!
thanks again, Ms. Chen
Mary: thank YOU
Mary: i'm enjoying this april
me: me too
I feel really positive about writing and ideas and art and community
Mary: i like the variety of poetry we're exchanging
me: YES
Mary: yeah me too
Mary: what is your process? do you jot down ideas and then use them?
Me: so I do a lot of jotting, but in the past have been poor about going back through my notebook and acting on them
my back burner is so back burnery that everything gets cold
this month has been a good exercise in acting on ideas rapidly
so far
Mary: cooool
me: otherwise, my gmail & notebook is full of emails to myself with half-poems and phrases and images/ideas I want to convey Somehow.
and newspaper articles I've sent myself that seem Exciting and Poetic Possibly
so I need to go through and harvest those too
before they rot
Mary: i like your speech imagery
me: thanks. :)
Mary: it would be fun to do an entire series of article poems

(we digress into discussions of particular narrative poets)