We’re honored to have had the chance to explore with Alex Lemon the journey of his new book, Another Last Day (Milkweed Books, March 2019). He’s invited us in to see the gritty aspects of publication: the passions and the doubts, the rejections and the (eventual) acceptance.
“I want POC to always be two steps ahead. I understand how trends and appropriation work so I want us to always to be innovating. And, of course, if we’re on the cutting edge, you can’t ignore us. We’ll refuse to not be taken seriously. “
We’re honored to have had the chance to chat with the talented poet Sam Sax, author of two award winning collections, recipient multiple fellowships, and currently a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University—here’s what he has to say about his journey of becoming poet.
“I think that period getting the first book accepted, the time right before it was accepted, when I kept getting ” almosts” from publishers was the worst. I was in my early thirties, so I could take it.”
“To have a career as a poet is the opposite of darkness: what luck, to be a grown American man who has been able to keep writing poems, for so long.”
“When I was 17, I came out at a poetry reading through a piece I’d written, so for me, calling myself a poet has been tied up with being open and out as a queer person.”
I had some dark moments in my late twenties when I didn’t think I would ever break through. It felt to me as if there were some invisible club that was trying to keep me out it. I was furious and determined. I tried to put my rage to work in the service of my art.
“Trust the process. It’s okay not to write for a while, but don’t let that plant die for lack of water. If you want to be a writer, you have to keep that baby alive at all costs.”
Get prepared to dig into your mid-week longread: our friend Rowan Lynam got the amazing chance to sit …