The Elk's Journal

ACE BOGGESS

Interview with Ace Boggess by Keegan Lester, ERL guest author and acclaimed American writer with WV roots

Ace Boggess is a tremendous poet from Charleston, West Virginia, who has also lived in Huntington, Martinsburg, Morgantown, Huntington again, and the West Virginia prison system (Martinsburg and Welch). I’ve been following him for years. His poems gravitate around his incarceration, music, and day-to-day life. He is the author of two novels and six books of poetry: Most recently: Escape Envy. His writing has been published in Harvard Review, Notre Dame Review, Rattle, River Styx, Mid-American Review, and Southern Humanities Review and he has received a fellowship for fiction from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.

Ace describes his poetry as “a mix of scrapbook, photo album, and autobiography. I write about everything,” he says. “Anything is worth writing about, as long as I can approach it with a mix of childlike fascination and a journalist’s eye. New experiences, however horrible, resonate with their own kind of beauty. And when I experience something, I have the urge to share it, not only to tell the story but to do it in such a way that other people can understand it without having to live through it.” There have been a handful of people who have recently made their careers writing about the opioid epidemic, but very few of them have experience using firsthand or have been incarcerated. This prompted me to ask Ace: What do people get wrong about it in their writing about the epidemic? “I get asked versions of this a lot, and my answer is not a popular one. There won’t be more addicts if drugs are legalized (all drugs, without exception), but there will be less crime, less cost to society, and a better chance that addicts will seek help. That’s not what people want to hear, but it’s the truth. As for the people involved, well, we all have other underlying problems that we’re dealing with. For me, it was (and is) social anxiety and feelings of failure and self-doubt. If you get someone off drugs without dealing in some way with those underlying problems, it won’t end well.”

When asking Boggess about some of his favorite moments in his career, he says “Getting the acceptance letter for my book The Prisoners on the day I made it out of prison … that was a big one. Readings, though, are what I love. I enjoy giving readings more than anything else. They are the only times I ever feel completely at home. Before prison, I was reading in York, Pennsylvania, and after, I stood outside smoking a cigarette, when a young woman came up to me and said, ‘Thanks for being interesting,’ which I still take as the greatest compliment I have ever received.”

I’d like to think that I write for the people who aren’t there with me. "

Social anxiety has forced me to spend much of my life hiding out away from other people. So, I write as my way of saying, ‘Hey, this is me, now tell me about you.

– Ace Boggess

The universal commonality that all poets seem to share is how they become a poet. It’s almost never that one decides, unprompted, by themselves one day, that this will be their vocation. It is often brought on by another. “Originally, I didn’t consider myself a poet. I always called myself a novelist and immersed myself in writing novels for years, just dashing out poems on the side along the way. But I had success with poetry even before prison, and so everyone I knew called me a poet. I finally accepted that in prison, and now it is my driving occupation. Without it, I probably would’ve given up. My whole way of viewing the world has changed to accommodate that.” “Some folks have offered encouragement over the years, and others good advice. Probably the earliest was an 11thgrade English teacher that was particularly taken by some awful rhyming poetry that I did on a lark. But the truth is, writing itself is what has always convinced me. The act of creating something tells me I can create, and the act of getting it published tells me I can create something at least somewhat worthwhile. Of course, there are a lot of doubts, too, because there have been a lot more failures than successes.” Important advice Ace offers up to aspiring writers is as follows:

1. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t do it.

2. Listen to all advice that comes your way, but learn to tell what’s good advice and what’s not, because you’ll get both, often. 3. Find what works best for you, not just in what you write, but in how you write (longhand, computer, voice recorder, on a cell phone, whatever) and when (different times of day can produce different psychological states that lead to different kinds of writing.

“Those three things have gotten me through a lot.”

Let’s get started

LITTLESECRETDESIGN.CO

Graphic Design Services

LOGO & BRAND DEV. WEB DESIGN SOCIAL MEDIA MGT. PRINT & DIGITAL ADS STATIONARY DESIGN CUSTOM TEES FLYER/MAILER DESIGN BROCHURE DESIGN MARKETING MATERIAL

And so much more!

For over 40 years, our landscape architects have shaped the land where we live, work and recreate.

AROUN D THE ELK

Trae Stout Makes Pro Boxing Debut

Submitted by Rob Fletcher, Owner of Elk River Boxing Club

Local Elk River amateur boxing standout, Christopher “Trae” Stout, will make his pro boxing debut at The Roane County Rumble on January 22, 2022. The event will be held at the Roane County High School in Spencer. Trae’s opponent at the Roane County Rumble will be Jordan Zlacki from Pittsburgh, PA. Trae is a 2015 graduate from Braxton County High School. He started learning how to box from his long time family friend, Earl Tanner of Clay, WV. Trae attended Glenville State College where he joined the Glenville State College Boxing Team under the direction of Coach Duane Chapman. While he was at Glenville, he won the first Hometown Heroes Boxing (HHB) National Boxing Tournament in January of 2018. After attending Glenville, Trae joined the Elk River Boxing Club in Elkview under the tutelage of Coach Rob Fletcher where he has won multiple boxing titles. Rob is the owner and boxing instructor at Elk River Boxing Club and is a former heavy-weight boxing champion. Trae said, “My first goal is to win the WV Light Middleweight title. I’m not overlooking the opponents I have to defeat first in order to reach this goal.” The Roane County Rumble will be hosted by Dawghouse Promotions. If you are interested in being a sponsor for this event or if you are wanting to purchase tickets, contact Mike Sheppard at 304.483.5503. Elk River Boxing Club offers Youth Boxing classes for ages 10-15 on Monday, Tuesday and Friday at 5:30 PM. Every Wednesday they also offer boxing, kickboxing, powerlifting, and private and small group instruction. They are located at 5522 Elk River Road, N., Elkview (Falling Rock). Call Rob Fletcher at 681.495.2919 for more information.