Blog / 10 Questions

10 Questions for Mimi Lipson

August 9, 2019 - By Emily Wojcik

“On the morning of Saturday, June 15, 2013, my brother Sam sent me a link to an AP wire service story. The headline said, “Rangers Rescue Hiker Hit by Fallen Tree in Smokies,” and the hiker was identified as “Nathan Lipsom.” They’d misspelled our last name, but it was close enough that someone Sam worked with had forwarded it to him, asking if this person was any relation. . .” —from “Tornado,” Volume 60, Issue 2 (Summer 2019)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
In, I’m going to say, 1992, my downstairs neighbor had a zine called Luvboat Earth. His name is Josh Glenn. We’re still friends, and I’m a regular contributor to his website Hilobrow...

10 Questions for Robert Long Foreman

August 6, 2019 - By Christin Howard

“As I write this, my daughter Moriah is running in a circle behind me. She is five. We are in our basement, which is where I go when I want to be alone and get to work. Moriah is running because she wants our cat to chase her. The cat is not having it. I lost control of my life when Moriah came into it. I lost ready access to what passes for my mind.” – From “Ragnarök,” Summer 2019 (Vol. 60, Issue 2)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
One of the first things I wrote was an essay, “Speak, Walking Stick.” In my parents’ house there was an old heirloom walking stick, and I’d never written anything seriously—not with publication in mind. So, I wrote...

10 Questions for Mingpei Li

August 1, 2019 - By Christin Howard

“What they said was, where there is contact
things rapidly change: circular reshuffling of hot rises,
cold sinks. On a sea, we would call it weather.
Here, before the drop & itself rush into
each other, it pressures aloft, a straining escape
from itself, a moment at peace” —From “Drop Coalescence ” Summer 2019 (Vol. 60, Issue 2)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
My first language is Chinese, and when I was 10, I spent a summer reading simplified versions of Chinese classics and writing poems in Chinese in an imitation-classical style.  I was reading Dreams of the Red Chamber, in which some of the characters had a poetry circle, and I...

10 Questions for Leah Claire Kaminski

July 29, 2019 - By Emma Kemp

"your feet knowing sand at their arches: the heave the give and grit the quiet
waves of a chalky blue lake the heavy slide
down a small pebble bank
slide like
  ...

10 Questions for M.A. Untch

July 18, 2019 - By Christin Howard

“Stars crept through bedroom windows to feed the dark.
Everybody became a friend that died.
Blitzed desire tiptoed in from all directions.
Wintered, feverish roses bloomed on yellowed sheets.
Not me, thinking back as far as I could– who
            did I touch? How many sheets spilled over my bed…” —From "Better Angels II," Summer 2019 (Vol. 60, Issue 2)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote:
I wrote a poem “Estate Sale” while visiting relatives in Appomattox, VA. My aunt was having a lawn sale. When I started the poem, I had no idea where I was going with it until...