106 AC: That’s a great question! Actually, the reading you attended at UAA was recorded for a podcast, so students or others interested can download it. Personally, I LOVE hearing poetry read out loud; I find it much more exciting than on the page. Poetry has historically been an aural art form. You don’t know how many times people have told me, “Oh, I understand the poems so much better, now that I’ve heard them read.” The problem is getting people to attend readings! I’d like to explore the idea of getting more poetry recorded for the web. Steve and I are considering a blog, and maybe we can include some recorded excerpts from our books on it. I did have a poem read by a professional actress on the poetry.com website, and she did a wonderful job. The poem is titled “The Egyptians Had it All Wrong,” and is included in my next book, A Measure’s Hush, due out in April. LS: Throughout Violet Transparent you reference a wide variety of history and culture. For example, in “Eulogy for the Galapagos Tortoise” you reference Greek mythology. “A Hunger” cites the consumption of hummingbird tongues, which was considered a delicacy to the ancient Romans. What sort of historical and cultural facts do you find most intriguing and inspiring enough to incorporate into a poem? AC: Wow, I think almost any snippet of history is probably interesting enough to be included in a poem. History is fascinating, as long as it’s not presented in the traditional high school textbook format, where we get twoparagraph summaries of events that unfolded over the course of many years. I think the trick to incorporating history in literary work is not to include too much at a time. Throwing a hard historic fact into the middle of a poem has a way of jolting us awake, reminding us that history is always lurking behind our actions, our intolerances, our pettiness. I’m not really a fan of poems that assume the persona of an historical person. I like history in smaller doses, as a kind of wake-up call. LS: In “Blue Mountain Pine” you bring to light little known, or perhaps forgotten, history regarding the cruelty applied to Aleuts. “Martha” highlights the final moments of the last passenger pigeon. These are only two examples of several in which you give due attention to tragic occurrences. What effects do you think retelling the shameful and neglected past will have with readers?
CIRQUE AC: Wouldn’t it be nice if our words could change the world! But as Auden so famously said, “Poetry makes nothing happen.” At the risk of sounding fatalistic, I think the best that poetry can do is serve as a reminder. It’s something to give us pause. Of course, the people who could really benefit from hearing those reminders are the least likely to read poetry. So there’s that inevitable risk of preaching to the choir. But if, as a writer, you are compelled to address these subjects, you don’t really have a choice. You say what you need to say. It’s going to register with someone out there, somewhere. LS: Steve, in The Hard Way Home you reference real people and real events. Although last names are usually never used, the circumstances are unique enough to possibly identify an individual. Did you have any misgivings about the stories you published and how they might affect your relationships with those people? SK: Of course, I struggled with that, especially in my story “The Wake.” I wouldn’t want to tarnish a relationship, but I wanted the reader’s experience to be as authentic as possible. Respect and criticism of our friends should go hand in hand. Personally, I don’t want to read stories where everything a friend does elevates them to sainthood. I thought hard about how to handle this. Humor helps; including my own flaws allowed others’ shortcomings to come across as less of a personal attack and more of a commentary about human nature. I also realized that, as a reader, my greatest appreciation is for authors like Ted Kerasote and Mark Jenkins, who write about relationships with honesty; they gave me a model to follow. LS: Unlike the stereotypical hunter, you have a unique appreciation and compassion for living things, whether it be considering the well-being of the undersized and female crab that are tossed back to sea to developing a relationship with a flock of cranes that could have provided sustenance in a time of need. What would you attribute this to? SK: I’ve always loved the outdoors and felt myself fortunate to spend so much time in it. From an early age I’ve been fascinated by the natural world—I think it is hard to be enthralled with something and disrespect it. Of course, reading, the process of writing, and being around like-minded people have greatly aided my maturation in that regard.