For this edition of Conversation With Poets, We Love. I got the chance to interview Nina Puro who is a poet and social worker in Brooklyn. Their Book, “Each Tree Could Hold a Noose or a House,” was the winner of the 2017 New Issues Poetry Prize. Their poetry, essays, and criticism have been published widely.
Uzomah: Can you discuss some of your favorite subjects to explore through literature in particular poetry?
Nina: Poetry is a trickier thing than other genres to report “subjects” or what it’s “about,” but at some point, I wrote a project description that said the following — it n looks terribly overwrought and self-important to me now, but not untrue:
“I’m curious about queer precarity, and how it is related to failure, glitch, abandoned projects, non-performance, hidden labor, and being at home in the wings. My work’s primary concern has always been rupture and repair, what happens after healing, and when “healing” is impossible, whether on an individual or planetary level. A friend described my work as “the domestic in a vacuum” or “a haunted house.” I’m preoccupied with haunting: by what happens to deserted places and bodies; by layers of diaspora accrued during gentrification. This has lead to questions about the somatic archiving of memory and trauma on cellular and architectural levels. I am studying the intersections of personal history and societal will, and in doing so, I frequently integrate notions of archiving, ruin, and dross within representations of femininity and the body (which is to say: the queer & gendered & raced & dis/abled body).
U: How do you select a poem for publication for a magazine or journal? What was the process in selecting poems for your debut book, “Each Tree Could Hold a Noose or a House”?
N: Mostly this has been a process of revision, revision, and picking the best thing. I kept excising the crappiest pomes for better new ones and restructuring. There are many, many times more poems that found their way out than those stayed in! I have refused to be marketable in most ways, but I’m privileged enough to have gotten a funded MFA (from Syracuse, 2012) that gave me good guidance about the market.
U: How has being a poet and a writer helped in terms of being a better social worker? Have the skills you use in writing been of use in the field of social work?
N: Being a writer has been incredibly helpful. I don’t think the concerns of social work and poetry are different — it’s about speaking truth to power, giving voice to the voiceless, all those phrases both camps love — but in the case of social work, there is less self-promotion and more listening. And future viability — the tiny streams of art/ service industry money didn’t shrug out to anything viable, and at some point, I was tired of hustling; I was in my 30s and had never had a paid sick day.
U: How important is it to study other poets? Who are some of your favorites?
N: Very important — I think it is more important to read than to write or create — ideally, the majority of one’s creative time should be writing and studying, not generating.
Lynda Hull is probably my favorite poet, Anne Boyer my favorite living. I don’t want to generate a long list because I’ll leave someone off! Be curious, particularly about voices outside of your frame of reference. Do your best to read voraciously and widely and broaden your reading list.
U: What made you want to become a poet?
N: I looked around where I grew up.
U: What would you tell a young poet en route to wanting to publish their work?
N: Be persistent — the market not wanting you is not your fault; we can shift it.
Whether it be in a journal or chapbook or book, which would you suggest they pursue first and why?
This is up to everyone’s discretion, but I would put it in roughly in exactly that order.
U: When did you decide to start looking to get published and why?
N: I still question wanting to disseminate my voice. But essentially I talked to people, started looking around, applied obsessively, and got lucky. I submitted a ton in the past but have not in years.
U: Who were some of the biggest supporters of your writing early on? How important were they and how their support has led you to where you are now?
N: There are so many folks! My teachers in grad school, my friends in Brooklyn particularly at Belladonna, Eillen Myles who let me live in Marfa at their house to write, folks at residencies. I have been profoundly lucky.
U: How can we get more support to LGBTQIA and QTPOC writers in all aspects so their talents do not suffer in the community?
N: This is the big question I don’t have an answer to. I think things are changing but I also think power works the way it always has — terrible people want it, so they get it, and they pass it to their terrible scions. Support and show up for and promote and hug anyone you believe in (even if the hugs have to be virtual for now). Diversify your feeds — look for people in different skins and bodies and countries actively.
U: As a social worker can you give any advice to a LBGTQIA or QTPOC poet and where they should go for help, or what they should do if facing a mental health problem? Can you name some things that they might be able to do if resources in their area are limited?
N: Thank you so much for this question! I suggest getting help if you can access it, getting out of your space for a walk or kneading some dough if you can manage either, and reading something you find comforting if you can read, no matter how frivolous. If you can’t find in person help, the internet is wonderful and has a lot. Know that what you are feeling is ok and valid and that lots of other people around the world are feeling or have felt similar, and that while it is awful, it will pass. There’s a Rilke quote, “No feeling is final” that I use as a mantra. That’s another one — a very simple mantra of your values or something to remember to ground and center you can be very helpful. Create soothing rituals, take as good care of yourself as possible, get as much nutrition and rest as you possibly can. I try to remind myself that I am doing my best, even my best is sometimes terrible.
U: What was the last book you read?
N: I’ve been halfway through Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror for a while and just finished Severance by Ling Ma- perfect pandemic reading. I’m about to start We Play a Game by Duy Doan and have been flipping around in Emily Brandt’s Falsehood for months.
You can find out more about Nina’s work here.
