Lyn Lifshin Interviewed
By Doug Holder
Lucid Moon Interview #4
Lyn Lifshin is
commonly referred to as the "Queen of the Small Press". She
has written more than 90 chapbooks and books of poetry, most recently,
Before Its Light, released by Black Sparrow Press. If you were
to check out the Poet's Market, her name would invariably appear
as a contributing poet in a slew of magazines. She has edited
four major anthologies of women's writing, and gives workshops
around the country. Her work covers her feelings about war,
sexuality, a woman's role in society, and the whole gamut of
life experiences. She has won many awards, including A Bread
Loaf Scholarship and the Jack Kerouac award. I met with her
before a reading she was to give at the Old West Church in Boston,
sponsored by the Stone Soup Poets and Ibbetson Street Press.
In the midst of the din of a busy North End restaurant, we talked
about her life and poetry.
Q: So Lyn, how does it feel to be back in Boston after
all this time?
A: It feels nice, it feels cold actually. I haven't
been here for 5 to 7 years.
Q: One might say you had your seminal poetic roots here?
A: My father's family was from the area. We visited
this area from the time we were babies. I also spent a short
time at Brandeis. I had to leave Brandeis to get married and
give my cat a home (laughing). I did drop out. I was engaged
to two men, and it was all too complicated. One was at Brandeis,
and one was at Brown, so I didn't have time to do graduate work.
Q: I admire your cat poems. I remember one of your cat
poems, where you describe laying in bed and the cat would leave
you to go out. The cat would be on the prowl like a wild animal.
Then it would come back to your bed, like a lover back from
a night out. Cats seem to play a role in a lot of your poems.
A: It's hard not to write about cats without being sentimental.
I probably write about them, because invariably I have one in
the background somewhere. If you view my documentary, you will
notice a cat on the desk. They somehow represent living a normal
life, a steady presence.
Q: In your new book, Before Its Light, the first section
is autobiographical. Is it strictly so?
A: Even though I say my poems are autobiographical,
the experience is transformed by the act of writing about it.
The first poem I wrote in this section, But Instead Has Gone
Underground, was about the day before I turned in a manuscript.
I wanted to convey that even if you know all the facts, you
still have to remember it still is a poem: A woman goes into
the subway, And for whatever reason, Disappears behind rails
And is never heard from again. We don't understand this. In
the past people would respond to my poems by thinking, "Oh, she
must be wild, let's give her drugs", or, "She must be a real bitch,
because she writes angry poems." The first poem conveys the fact
that even though you might feel you know me, remember I am not
the poem. This is a problem. I once wrote a poem loosely based
about something that happened in the past, and twenty people
said, "I like that poem about me."
Q: In one of your poems, Now I'm Into More Sensible
Cars, you were using cars as a metaphor for more sensible men.
At this stage of your life, do you feel more comfortable?
A: I think I am. I am presently in a long term comfortable
relationship. I guess I'm not sorry for the past, which was
unsettled. A lot of great poems come out of the terrible experiences.
Q: Have any poems come out of a staid domesticity?
A: Yeah, in a way. My present companion finds it very
hard to hear any poems about anyone I was with before him. I
wouldn't mind hearing about his. You shouldn't write about the
person you are with. Why mess up a comfortable relationship?
You write about what is absent…the attractive man on the subway,
with a ring on his finger, things like that. My partner was
very upset with some of the poems I wrote. However, he likes
when I write poems about him. I have written poems about his
heart surgery. When I type them up, I think he'll like them. I
do often find the worst things make the best poems.
Q: Someone told me that you can't be polite to be a
good writer. You have to be willing to insult your mother, for
instance.
A: I think you have to take a risk. I was very close
to my mother. We told each other everything. If a poem came
out about her and it was unflattering, she wouldn't mind as
long as I showed it to her. She would only be angered if I tried
to cover it up. My other relatives felt that poetry aired their
dirty laundry. They never asked me about it, they never mentioned
it. They would have been happy if I went to Law School or something.
Nothing as rude or revealing as poetry. Nothing as rude as poetry.
Q: If you were to characterize yourself as a member
of a particular "school" of poetry, what would that be?
A: I don't think that I fit into any school. I'm sure
that I was influenced by the Beats at one time, but I was also
influenced by a lot of writers like Plath and Sexton.
Q: How do the academic folks view you? In a Washington
Post article I read they seem to condemn you for being too prolific.
Is there something wrong with writing a lot?
A: I may be prolific, but out of many poems there will
be only one or two that I will really work on or revise. I use
to send out a lot, but it is not until I do a book will I really
go over each poem.
Q: What is your philosophy of sending out so many poems?
I remember when I was first wrote you, requesting poems for
the Ibbetson Street Press, I was shocked about this huge envelope
of poems I received.
A: If someone asks me now, I send them a big bunch of
poems, but I just don't send them out unsolicited. I guess I
sent out so many poems because I never took a creative writing
course, and I felt I would never write enough. I skipped a lot
of years, and I always did things early, so I had an urgency
to get things published.
Q: You are considered one of the major American Poets,
aren't you?
A: In 1973 there were two major anthologies that came
out with American women poets. I was in both of them. In the
early 1970's I was booked for readings, I was getting published,
etc. Maybe because I was published so much, or because some
of my work wasn't up to par, that I fell off the first track.
In spite of that, I was selling my archives for a nice sum.
Q: In your poetry you write about how expectations were
pushed on you, particularly around having children. It was almost
a crime that a s a young woman, you didn't want kids. Can you
talk about this?
A: I think my decision to not have children came from
seeing my mother, who was a vibrant woman, fun loving, a free
spirit. She went to college and then lived in New York City.
She went to lectures, danced all night, enjoyed life. She wanted
to marry someone other than my father. She did what was expected,
rather than what she wanted to do. She went back to Vermont
with my father, something she never wanted to do. She wanted
to stay in New York. She basically married my father because
he was the right religion. Because of my mother's history, I
decided I wanted to follow my own desires, and that did not
include children. I really had nothing against marriage. I remember
reading this poem about trading your life for a ring. I just didn't
want to do that. My mother never wanted children, and when she
had them, she did nothing…she sacrificed her life.
Q: The recurrent theme in your poetry is that you seem
to be fighting against these traps that are being placed. Am
I right about that?
A: I remember my mother-in-law told me that when you
are in your 20's you can't have long hair. I fought against
that, and the way you wee supposed to dress for academic life.
I guess I resisted going to Law School, and securing a more
stable profession. My mother was worried some man would find
my poems objectionable. She was right, they did.
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