A Punch in the Wall
A Conversation with Anna Hoff
OS Collaborator Anna Hoff talks about her new digital chapbook, Hara-kiri on Monkey Bars, available now from The Operating System.
Greetings! Thank you for talking to us about your process today. Can you introduce yourself, in a way that you would choose?
Anna Hoff.
Why are you a poet/writer/artist?
It’s human nature to create.
When did you decide you were a poet/writer/artist (and/or: do you feel comfortable calling yourself a poet/writer/artist, what other titles or affiliations do you prefer/feel are more accurate)?
No, I do not feel comfortable claiming myself poet.
What’s a “poet” (or “writer” or “artist”) anyway?
A poet/writer/artist: a cactus soul horsing around in a run-down jazz bar.
What do you see as your cultural and social role (in the literary / artistic / creative community and beyond)?
Continue what many others have already begun — demanding gender equality through the abolishment of gender stereotypes.
Talk about the process or instinct to move these poems (or your work in general) as independent entities into a body of work. How and why did this happen? Have you had this intention for a while? What encouraged and/or confounded this (or a book, in general) coming together? Was it a struggle? Did you envision this collection as a collection or understand your process as writing or making specifically around a theme while the poems themselves were being written / the work was being made? How or how not?
I started by deciding on a theme for a larger work. In this case, gender stereotypes inspired me. Afterwards, I used stream of consciousness to understand how I truly feel about male and female roles. Then, I created verses using these words or groups of words to create an image of disgust.
What formal structures or other constrictive practices (if any) do you use in the creation of your work? Have certain teachers or instructive environments, or readings/writings/work of other creative people informed the way you work/write?
Yes! Charles Bukowski (though less obvious in this manuscript); Allen Ginsberg; Charles Baudelaire; France Théoret; Nelly Arcan; Harold Pinter… (the list goes on)
Speaking of monikers, what does your title represent? How was it generated? Talk about the way you titled the book, and how your process of naming (individual pieces, sections, etc) influences you and/or colors your work specifically.
I used stream of consciousness to come up with the title Hara-kiri on Monkey Bars. The act of suicide performed in such a -deemed innocent- location creates the ultimate form of abortion since this method of bringing one’s self to death is executed near the womb. Also, in this chapbook, the topics of motherhood and mental illness are consistently present.
What does this particular work represent to you …as indicative of your method/creative practice? your history? your mission/intentions/hopes/ plans?
This work represents my way of coping with frustration as well as flipping the bird to the ideal and unrealistic female portrayal.
What does this book DO (as much as what it says or contains)?
This chapbook is a punch in the wall. It is all the violence and frustration I (and many other women) feel in today’s society. I do not understand marriage nor do I understand the portrayal of individuals as plastic. Neither does this manuscript.
What would be the best possible outcome for this book? What might it do in the world, and how will its presence as an object facilitate your creative role in your community and beyond? What are your hopes for this book, and for your practice?
I do not know what will become of this work. Perhaps, the publishers and OS staff will be the only individuals to have read it! Nevertheless, I needed to write about issues related to gender, sexuality, mental illness, and biology.
Let’s talk a little bit about the role of poetics and creative community in social and political activism, so present in our daily lives as we face the often sobering, sometimes dangerous realities of the Capitalocene. How does your process, practice, or work otherwise interface with these conditions? I’d be curious to hear some of your thoughts on the challenges we face in speaking and publishing across lines of race, age, ability, class, privilege, social/cultural background, gender, sexuality (and other identifiers) within the community as well as creating and maintaining safe spaces, vs. the dangers of remaining and producing in isolated “silos” and/or disciplinary and/or institutional bounds?
If you have the energy to talk about a recent sexual partner or a small stomach ache or even a cute dog you saw on the street then, you have the energy to talk about what really matters: your thoughts on race, age, privilege, social/cultural background, and sexuality. Tell us about how you were oppressed or what sort of oppression you witnessed. We need to be informed. Take depression as an example. I cannot count how many times I’ve heard comments such as ‘‘it’s all in your head’’. It. Is. Not. All. In. Our. Heads. Clearly, a lack of knowledge about mental illness is conveyed through such comments. Therefore, dialoguing and trying to understand what the other person is experiencing (which might feel unfamiliar) will stop you from saying or doing unfounded things.
Is there anything else we should have asked, or that you want to share?
No, thank you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anna Hoff is working in a public school in Madrid as a part-time helper. The rest of her time is spent writing. You can find some of her work on medium(dot)com/@hoff(dot)anna(dot)wester. She studied literature at the University of Montreal.
ABOUT THE COVER ART:
The Operating System 2019 chapbooks, in both digital and print, feature art from Heidi Reszies. The work is from a series entitled “Collected Objects & the Dead Birds I Did Not Carry Home,” which are mixed media collages with encaustic on 8 x 8 wood panel, made in 2018. Heidi writes: “This series explores objects/fragments of material culture- -how objects occupy space, and my relationship to them or to their absence.”
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Heidi Reszies is a poet/transdisciplinary artist living in Richmond, Virginia. Her visual art is included in the National Museum of Women in the Arts CLARA Database of Women Artists. She teaches letterpress printing at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, and is the creator/curator of Artifact Press. Her poetry collection titled Illusory Bordersis forthcoming from The Operating System in 2019, and now available for pre-order. Her collection titled Of Water & Other Soft Constructions was selected by Samiya Bashir as the winner of the Anhinga Press 2018 Robert Dana Prize for Poetry (forthcoming in 2019).
Find her at heidireszies.com
