The Poet Grace
A conversation with
GRACE CAVALIERI
T
by Sara M. Robinson
ell me about Grace Cavalieri the poet.
This sounds like an easy question but it’s really
a powerful arrow right smack in the center of
the heart. I believe most of us “poets” are walking
vulnerabilities with language arranged around this, and
that’s why the world needs us to soften its edges. It also
means we notice everything. The way the light moves
across a leaf—who cares in this busy achievement-driven
world but us? So paying attention is one thing.
I write a lot about the past because it’s where the gold
is. My husband died not long ago and I seem to be stuck
on that theme in poems. Poets come out in their own time,
of their own time, and I guess that’s the
coalition of thought and word.
How can we attract people to poetry?
Either to read or to write?
OMG. Start with today—hip hop,
song lyrics, present day writers—
and then move gradually back to
SHAKESPEARE. People have this idea
that poetry belongs to someone else other
than themselves.
What is your writing schedule like?
My cat must believe the birds can’t sing
without me, so I’m up earlier than I
wish. I always have some material half
started on my desk so it’s easy to pick up
and dig in right away. Hemingway says
“stop when the juices are high.” Creative
writing is morning writing. Articles and
grants and technical writing are for afternoon. There’s a
sad part of the day about 3 to 5 p.m. where napping, film
watching, or writing is good.
I always have spiral notebooks open: one for plays, one
for poetry images, one for collecting ideas. All on the desk,
daytime, and then in bed with me.
How do you feel about using the computer to write?
It’s the way a person can pull energy through that matters.
Composing with pen in hand is my mode of operation, then
revising on the magic machine. It’s a mystery how people
can watch movies on cell phones, so I guess we’ll be
getting more skinny poems soon.
10
Southern Writers
Do you have to make an appointment with yourself to
write?
Writing is thinking, so no need to race with the clock. The
writer is a funnel, all day long.
Do you have a ritual or rituals?
Collecting images every day works for me, as you can’t
make a soup without ingredients. Also, when teaching, I
tried giving students ten words to use in a poem. To this
day, it works and I now have a ten-word poetry group online
with monthly poetry-swaps using the same delegated words.
A good impetus.
Your latest book, Other Voices, Other Lives, covers a lot
of ground.
This is exciting for me because it’s a
compendium of my poetry, play excerpts
and interviews from my radio show “The
Poet and the Poem.” I’ve never had such
a package showing the entire sandbox I
play in.
How did you start your radio broadcast?
While teaching poetry at Antioch College
(eastern campus) it was clear I could
reach 20 in the classroom and 200 in a
lecture hall, but WHAT if we could get
poetry to 200,000? I heard of a new FM
radio station going on air in Washington
DC that needed a “drama and literature
director.” I left Antioch and spent two
years fundraising to get WPFW on the
air, and we went “live” February 1977. I
was able to produce eight art shows a week, but the dream
finally told was a one-hour weekly prime time poetry
interview/reading. After 20 years on regional air, I took it
to The Library of Congress to go national on Public Radio
and the series just celebrated 40 years “on-air” without
interruption. (My husband used to say, “Who could interrupt
her?!”)
I manage to write about fifteen book reviews a month,
and it beings me the GREATEST happiness to shine a light
on poets. I get so much energy back. It’s a glorious way to
live. Sharing the carriage with other poets is the way I want
to travel. n