Interview // “Abject Uncertainty”: A Conversation Between Jeff Alessandrelli & Ashley Yang Thompson
“The important thing is that the work conveys felt truth.”
Conversations between writers about their art and craft.
“The important thing is that the work conveys felt truth.”
“The dark, for me, is always a place of brimming; even when it is anguishing and unbearable. . .”
“At times, forgetting is essential. In the poem, that refers to the way one person, a mother, a woman, part of a traditional family where roles and expectations are clearly cut, needs to forget about that part of hers in order to breathe, to tend to the little things that make her happy—like doing her nails—to keep it going. We are a multitude of things, after all.”
Conducted by Jennifer Elise Foerster
“Often, as I attempt to solve literary problems, I find my mind working not in language, but in music or in space.”
“Research is an intimate practice.”
“It’s interesting to me how when we think of the dead and project their presence in our lives, the projections often point to events or milestones that the dead will not experience with us. Birthdays, holidays, first days of school, etc. There were so many events in 2020 that I’m glad Vivian never had to endure.”
“Marrying then and now, that’s a ploy to be sensible, to recognize in my childhood-self the simplification and wishful thinking, to overlay some hard truth, and to acknowledge that I’m chained to this country by love.”
Conducted by Shriram Sivaramakrishnan
“I always felt the poem before I had any idea about its meaning. A good poem is essentially unknowable.”