Our founding editor, Svetlana Sterlin (SS), spoke to Issue 4 contributor Lucy Robin (LR) about their affecting poem ‘Ahorita‘.
SS: I was instantly struck by the very particular mood of your poem, ‘Ahorita’. There’s a sense of wavering and in-betweenness, which is reflected in the poem’s relaxed form. During editing, you mentioned the influence of Eileen Myles’ style; can you tell readers a little about this inspiration, and perhaps any other sources of inspiration you had when creating this poem?
LR: I was introduced to Myles’ work in my first year of university, when a creative writing tutor assigned ‘Peanut Butter’ as required reading. I remember being very affected (and perhaps a little scandalised) by the first lines: “I am always hungry / & wanting to have / sex. This is a fact.”
I’m very drawn to their use of nonsequiturs and atypical enjambments. The lack of linearity in their work is exciting to me, particularly as it seems to be an exact fit for how my brain consumes words.
I was also introduced to Frank O’Hara by this same university tutor, and I’m always trying to write something as plainly romantic as ‘Animals’.
SS: Your poetic style closely resembles prose poetry, especially in ‘Ahorita’. Would you say your work dwells in one realm more than the other—do you even believe in categorising your work?
LR: I’m not as familiar as I once was with form and function when it comes to poetry. I also don’t write much of it, because I find it so much more difficult than nonfiction and fiction. I’d say that ‘Ahorita’ is prose poetry, as this is the subgenre that comes most naturally to me.
SS: Do you feel drawn to freeform over traditional forms? Is there a message in the way your lines often run to the righthand margin, or are these just organic enjambments?
LR: My brain works very logically, but–like many writers–I struggle to be economical with my prose. I’d say my enjambments fall where I feel they make the most ‘sense’, but also where I don’t want to end the sentence just yet.
SS: Where else can readers find your work? Do you have any upcoming publications or projects in the works?
LR: My portfolio can be found at https://lucyrobinwriter.com/. I just came back from a trip to Los Angeles, and I’m incredibly excited to put the things I witnessed on paper later this year, via the Wheeler Centre’s Hot Desk Fellowship.
We’re so looking forward to seeing what Lucy comes up with next! Read their poem ‘Ahorita‘ as part of our fourth issue, now live.
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