IHLR NaPoMo Issue 2022

In the Saddle

with

JASMINE V. BAILEY

Jasmine V. Bailey has published one chapbook (Sleep and What Precedes It, winner of the Longleaf Press Chapbook Prize) and two poetry collections (Alexandria and Disappeared, both with Carnegie Mellon University Press). Last November, Carnegie Mellon also released her first translated book, That Salt on the Tongue to Say Mangrove by Silvina López Medin. Jasmine’s poems cover a range of sobering topics— political erasure, grief, war, sexual desire, free will, the desolation of American suburbs, etc.—and still, her sense of humor sings. It’s a powerful blend: the willingness and vision to find joy and laughter in life’s most pensive moments.

We’re thrilled that Jasmine has allowed us into her studio space, giving us a look at her unique process. It’s no surprise to see the space is filled with both a poet’s labor and her beguiling wit.

—LESLIE JILL PATTERSON, column editor

1. Desk from a garage sale in Lubbock. The varnish is wearing thin, but anything that fits in this space is a keeper. My husband, Dan, and I call this office the “Mrs. Rochester Room”: it’s not exactly where we keep our nice stuff, and it’s narrow, unfinished, and hidden from the rest of the house, behind the basement. At the moment, nothing happens here except writing, but maybe one day, my husband or I will imprison the other one there.

2. Snake plant in attractive planter from Marshalls. Snake plants might not actually be plants—because this one lives with almost no water or light. It might not even be mortal. Allegedly, they detoxify the air, which is good, since this room gets no air.

3. THE MAXIMUS POEMS by Charles Olson and THE FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES, translated by Everett Fox. Olson was from Gloucester, Massachusetts, where we live now, and set his epic, incomprehensible work in Gloucester. I'm encouraged to imagine I will someday complete my own epic, incomprehensible work. This, along with the Torah, reminds me it's better not to make too much sense.

4. Scrabble, Lord of the Rings Risk, Arkham Horror, Apples to Apples on the Go! and Poker. Because Dan and I dream of a day when our daughter will be old enough to play complicated, multi-hour cooperative role-playing board games—or just be able to spell.

5. Ancient award. Given to me by the Syracuse Y on the occasion of my first book. It stands in front of dozens of unsold copies of that book.

6. Painting Dan bought in Brazil. I am not hugely fond of this painting, so I put it here because marriage is about compromise.

7. Three-hole punch. I guess we bought this before we learned about digitizing. I no longer remember what we were thinking.

8. Jewish calendar. Because a girl's got to work for a living, and I work at a synagogue.

9. Curly hair. Evidence of a mischievous child. Between work and loving on/ caring for/cleaning-up after/providing unwanted and ignored guidance on all aspects of life to the curly-haired child, I have little free time or energy to write. But a couple of months ago, when copies of my new book of translation arrived at our house, my husband took one and showed her my picture on the back of the book and explained that I wrote it. Then she looked at me, smiled, and tackled me. It was the first time in her life I was ever sure she felt proud. So, I make time.