I first met Melanie Whithaus in March of 2012 when we ran her poetry in Umbrella Factory Magazine. Her poems in UFM's Issue #9 where her first publication. In the last year and nine months this poet has had many other magazine publications, two chapbooks and has become an editor of Wednesday Night Writes. I have had the opportunity to read both her chapbooks, Enigma and Motherhood. Please enjoy the following interview.
AFI: First of all, thank you for
participating in this interview.
MLW: Thank you so much for
considering me for this opportunity!
AFI: I enjoyed your chapbook Enigma
very much. It's a wonderfully slim chapbook with 12 poems, if you
can, tell me a little of the back story. Did you set out to build a
chapbook from scratch, or did you make this piece from 12 existing
poems? How did you choose the 12? I see you made the cover image
too, you are a photographer as well? I saw in your editor's bio from
Wednesday Night Writes magazine that you list photography as
an interest.
MLW: Thank you very much! I’m so
glad you liked it. Many of the poems in the book I wrote back in high
school. They were about relationships, friends, and my depression; I
thought I wouldn’t have any chance in publishing them individually.
They still meant a lot to me and I wanted to see them published
elsewhere than online in my personal blogs, so I decided to put them
in a book handmade by myself. The 12 poems I chose I felt all fell
under the same theme of confusion, hints the title of the book. The
poems themselves are hard to understand and describe, and I had a
very hard time identifying who I was at the time when I wrote the
poems. I like to think of myself as an amateur photographer, haha.
It’s a hobby of mine, but I don’t feel that I have enough
experience in the field to do anything professionally with it. I’m
still proud of the photographs that I do have, especially the cover
photo of Enigma. I took the photo while I was in
New York on vacation. I fell in love with the city, and I think the
tone of the city and the photo fits the word “enigma” very well.
AFI: I love poem “Intoxicated”
perhaps it's because I identify with the line “where kisses only
take place in dirty basements/and outside along dirty fences”.
It feels like a tribute to youth. Rather than pressing you for the
details of this poem's construction, let me just ask: what was this
poem's process? And I can't shake the feeling that “Intoxicated”
has a lyric quality. It feels like the second stanza could be a
refrain, and other stanza could be verses. Are you influenced by
music? Are you musically inclined?
MLW: The poem is about innocence and
youth, but also how easily it can slip through your fingers. To me,
innocence is bliss, not just ignorance. It’s about growing up, but
also learning how deal with life when the dust clears. All the
stanzas were personified events in my life. I wanted to make
something simple sound so exciting and alive. The last line of the
poem was completely true, and I have never forgotten those woman’s
words. In a way, they’ve defined not only this poem, but who I am
as a person. She told me to never stop writing, and here I am doing
this interview. Am I musically inclined? Haha, not at all. Music
inspires me, this poem in particular considering the rhyming, but I
can’t read sheet music to save my life.
AFI: Another one of my favorites has
to be “Blood Rush.” Again, what was this poem's process? It has
cyclical feel to it, and a loss of innocence dimension that happens
between 1978 and 1979. The dates seem important to the piece.
Despite the I voice in the poem, I cannot imagine this is
autobiographical. Where you even alive in 1978? There is something
more to this narrative poem than meets the eye, right? What is the
inspiration? It's really very stunning.
MLW: “Blood Rush” has always
been one of my personal favorites, and no, I was not alive in the
1970s, haha. Once again, the poem is about a relationship, it coming
to a dramatic end, and how the narrator deals with the changes in her
life (which obviously isn’t very well come the end of the poem,
haha). The narrator is almost self-abusive when it comes to her
relationship because she is desperately wants to be with this person
for the rest of her life even though she doesn’t truly love him.
She loves the idea of him; the guilt then consumes her, and she dies
with her lover even though she will be eternally unhappy. In a way,
the poem reflects the relationship I was in at the time. As for the
time period, I’ve always been inspired by periodical pieces, but
honestly I think I just chose the year 1979 because of the Cold War
and the space race. Something about that year stood out to me, and I
felt it fit the tone of the poem.
AFI: The late 1970s certainly were
tumultuous, I was very young, but I do remember the time. It is a
great time to set such a poem. Let's talk about your background a
little bit. I love to ask this question: when did you decided to be
a poet/writer? Was there a specific event, an a-ah moment or a grand
revelation? Who are your biggest influences, and who are your role
models? Tell me about Southeast Missouri State University and what
you're current studying? Plans for graduate school?
MLW: Oh gosh. I think I decided to
become a writer than I was in the second grade? I wrote my first book
during that year, but didn’t do much more with writing until I was
about 11 years old. My older brother was writing a short story for
class, and I decided I wanted to do that too. I wrote my first novel
called The Wonderful Night. Oh goodness, I was
so proud of that piece of junk, haha. At first it was a good thirty
pages with my 14 pt comic sans font, but once I finally edited it
years later, I had a ten page “novel”. I wrote a number of novels
back in middle and high school, but it was all just for the fun of
it. I never imagined I would get somewhere with my writing. But as
I’ve grown and began to understand all the details behind writing a
novel, I haven’t been able to write one since. They’re too
daunting. So basically, I started writing for fun and I fell in love,
and now it’s become my life. My biggest influences would have to be
various friends I’ve made in the literary world, along with my
favorite authors such as JK Rowling, Sylvia Plath, Joyce Carol Oates,
and Charles Bukowksi. Also my family and friends have been very
supportive over all these years. I’m currently a senior and
studying creative writing at Southeast Missouri State University
where I also study small-press publishing. The staff and the friends
I have made have all been very supportive of me. But I can’t wait
to get out of here and move on to my next adventure: grad school.
Ideally I would love to go somewhere in New York or Chicago to
receive my MFA, but more than likely I’ll end up staying in the St.
Louis greater area.
AFI: I chose Goddard College for grad
school, it was a great experience. I think you should get off to
grad school. Your blog is fantastic. How long have you been at it?
Have you had any revelations as an artist as a result of keeping your
blog? Also, your social media presence is impressive, Facebook,
Twitter, etc. Have you received good response from your
fans/followers?
MLW: My blog is fantastic? Haha, I
never would have thought that, but thank you! That’s very
encouraging actually. I try to keep all my social media up to date so
I can reach the biggest audience I can get. I would say I have a
decent amount of followers as an up and coming artist, but who
doesn’t want more? Networking with other writers and publishers is
definitely key as well.
AFI: Tell me a little about your
magazine Wednesday Night Writes? What is your role in the
magazine's organization? How far do you plan to take this magazine?
What are the magazines objectives for the future? What do you think
are the roles and responsibilities of literary magazines?
MLW: Wednesday Night
Writes all started on Wednesday nights after our weekly
night class. We went to the local Denny’s and talked about class,
other stories/books we’ve read, and publications. We finally
decided we wanted to start our own literary magazine. There are six
of us on staff currently and we all play the role as co-editors. It’s
a new magazine and we’re trying our best to work out the kinks. As
for the future, we just hope to publish as many great and upcoming
writers as we can. I’ve learned that lit mags are A LOT of work.
Between reading submissions, editing, formatting, building a website
and a following, it’s hard to sit back and admire all the work
you’ve already done. It takes a lot of responsibility and
dedication to keep a mag up and running smoothly.
AFI: I too have found literary
magazines to be a lot of work. You seem very new on the publication
circuit. The half dozen publications you list on your CV have
happened very quickly. You seem to be on your way to success.
What is the end goal and what is your current process? Many poets
and writers have publication as their ambition and yet so many poets
and writers don't even bother to submit their work. What is your
advice to someone who wants to be published? Which of your
publication experiences has been the best?
MLW: I like the think I’m on my
way to success, and yes, everything has happened very quickly. I
didn’t start publishing until about two years ago and since then
it’s been a real rollercoaster. My goal in life is to be on the New
York Times bestseller list. Maybe not as popular as JK
Rowling, but definitely a mentionable name in the literary world. I
love being published. It brings such a sense of accomplishment
knowing that my work is being praised by people outside my comfort
zone. My advice is to never stop trying; someone is going to like
your work, it’s just a matter of finding the right publisher. My
best experience is when I actually had a book launch this past summer
for Enigma at the bookstore/publishing house I
was interning at, Rocking Horse Publishing.
AFI: Motherhood, your second
chapbook, just released. How much different was the process with
this publication from Enigma?
MLW: Motherhood
was actually a mini-chapbook that started off as an art project. It’s
only five poems and I didn’t have any plans to do anything with it
other than hand it out to a few friends. I really made the book just
for my own pleasure. Now I’m in the works of listing it on Amazon
as an ebook. The difference between Motherhood
and Enigma is that I had a common theme in mind
when making Motherhood, and the poems are much
more up to date. Lately, my poems have been about motherhood (even
though I myself am not a mother) and what it means to be a mother.
The description of the book pretty much summarizes up my thought
process: “The collection highlights the author's fascination
with the idea of what it means to be a mother with pregnancy scares,
miscarriages, and abortions in mind. To her, simply loving a
child–born or unborn–considers you to be a mother.”
AFI: Enigma starts with a
Charles Bukowski quote and you inscribed my copy with a Ernest
Hemingway witticism. If you will indulge me, leave me with something
good: give me some serious Whithaus wisdom.
MLW: I love Bukowksi. I’m such a
fan girl that I actually have a bluebird tattoo because of his poem
“The Bluebird”. I can honestly say haven’t read much Hemingway,
but I have great respect for him. Some of my own advice? Whithaus
wisdom? Haha, I’m not my father! But I guess my best advice is
going to be lame advice, and that is to never give up. Believe me; I
know what it’s like to be your worst critic, especially after being
diagnosed with depression. Just keep trying and prying and begging
and writing and networking and you’ll eventually get noticed.
AFI: Thanks again for participating in
this interview.
MLW: No, thank you for interviewing
me! It was a great time. Thanks again!
Melanie Whithaus is currently studying
for her undergraduate degree in Creative Writing at Southeast
Missouri State University. Her work has been featured on websites
such as deviantart.com and fanfiction.net, and her blog can be found
at melwhithaus.wordpress.com. She has poetry published with Umbrella
Factory Magazine, Scapegoat Review, and 1of25
magazine; short
stories with Crack the Spine literary magazine, The Rusty
Nail literary magazine, and Palaver Journal; and her
self-published chapbooks Enigma and Motherhood. Her
writing is known for its raw, straight-forward voice, and her “no
holds barred” style.
Anthony ILacqua believes in the
independent press, small or large, as the best representation of
modern literature in America and the ideal place to connect well
developed readers to the best writing available. Anthony's novels Dysphoric Notions and Undertakers of Rain are available from Ring of Fire Books.
His screenplays have been
made into widely praised animated films at Rocket House Studio.
He currently works as fiction editor for Umbrella FactoryMagazine.
Blog:
http://anthonyilacqua.blogspot.com
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