An Interview with Helen Vitoria
Helen, we already know you as a writer. You are also a publisher and an editor at Thrush Poetry Journal. What else should we know about you? Introduce yourself to us.
I have a tremendous amount of creative energy that at times I do not know what to do with it. If I am not writing poems, I need to be doing something. For years I have taken pictures of things that interest me, and recently I have begun submitting those photographs to journals. I have gotten a tremendous response on my work. That's pretty exciting for me.I am very much a loner and many times I tend to isolate for long periods of time-almost hermit like.But I feel that my best writing happens during those times.
Tell us about your first significant literary encounter. Do you feel this experience has shaped you as a writer?
My very first exposure to poetry was George Seferis. I read his work in Greek and was completely blown away. Soon after, having moved to America and learning to speak English I began to discover T.S. Eliot, and so many others. At that time, I knew this was all shaping me towards something bigger in my life. All I knew is that I wanted to write poems. Do you have any kind of creative patterns, routines, or rituals? How do you write a poem from start to finish - is it spontaneous, or more of a preconceived idea? What do you hope to communicate to your readers? I would not say I have rituals or patterns, but my favorite time to write is early in the morning. I do not always get to do that. I feel as if my mind is less cluttered at that time and I write with more freedom. Most of my poems are spontaneous but because of that I am careful to do research if I reference something in a particular poem. It's important to me to be accurate. I write in complete silence. Ultimately, if a reader of one of my poems is left with an emotion, with feeling, something,then I feel as a poet I have connected with someone. The greatest thing for me is when someone has read my work and then contacts me and tells me how it impacted them on an emotional level. I feel that is the greatest thing any writer can achieve, touching the readers with their words.
In your opinion, what is the point of poetry? What makes it important to writers as well as readers?
The point is the impact of language and the beauty and art created with words. It's important because it is soul bearing for the poet, for the readerbecause it takes a stand in their soul.
Some people believe there is a great divide between European and American writers. Based on your experiences growing up in Europe, and also living in America, how do you feel about this topic in general? On a personal level, how has experiencing these two cultures had a personal impact on your writing, and your life?
I grew up in Europe, and even after moving to America, I spent a tremendous amount of time traveling, even lived in Paris for some time. I do not feel the divide; maybe that is because I read and write poetry in both languages, I am not sure. For me poetry is one art. No matter what types of poems one writes: slam, experimental, narrative, etc.. It's a pet peeve of mine when writers segregate the art. There is a definite influence in my work that refers to my culture, my surroundings in Europe, even to my upbringing which was Greek. I cannot help it, that in the sense of it is part of who I am as a writer as much as anything else. I write poems about Greece and many poems about my life when I lived in Paris, or was traveling through other parts of Europe.
Helen, we would like to extend our congratulations on your successful THRUSH Poetry Journal . It's a beautiful journal filled with beautiful poems. Tell us how THRUSH came to be, what you look for in a submission, and what you see in THRUSH's future.
Thank you for the kind words on THRUSH! I love it and I am equally in love with every poem I publish. I have wanted to start a journal for some time, THRUSH was always somewhere in the back of my mind. I wanted a journal that is not about the site aesthetic, art or fiction, etc. I wanted a simple design that focuses entirely on the poet and the poems presented. I try to fill the issues with different styles of poems and present an eclectic mix. It's very simple as to what I look for: I have to love the poem. I get hundreds of good poems that I like very much, but decline them. That is not to say that every reader will love every poem I chose to publish, but I feel THRUSH gives them many chances to fall in love with poetry. Some for the first time, others all over again.THRUSH Press will be publishing select chapbooks, the journal's year end 'best of' anthology, poetry ephemera, etc. We are also tossing around an idea of starting an award/prize anthology. In which other journals can nominate poems and participate. It would be exclusive to poetry only and published on line annually. The future of the journal itself is to continue to publish the best poetry available to us in each of our editions.
Editing is a unique experience. How has your experience been so far, and has it changed or evolved any perspective you may have held previously about the industry?
It most certainly is. I would not say it has changed it, but I would say starting THRUSH has been a quick lesson in the small presses for me. Up until its startup, I only knew the small presses as a poet /submitter. I now have the knowledge and understanding of the 'behind the scenes' end of it.
What is one of your favorite poems by another author? Leave it here for us so we can all read it too.
I have so many poems that I love, but I will leave this:
The Truth the Dead Know
- Anne Sexton
Gone, I say and walk from church,
refusing the stiff procession to the grave,
letting the dead ride alone in the hearse.
It is June. I am tired of being brave.
We drive to the Cape. I cultivate
myself where the sun gutters from the sky,
where the sea swings in like an iron gate
and we touch. In another country people die.
My darling, the wind falls in like stones
from the whitehearted water and when we touch
we enter touch entirely. No one's alone.
Men kill for this, or for as much.
And what of the dead? They lie without shoes
in the stone boats. They are more like stone
than the sea would be if it stopped. They refuse
to be blessed, throat, eye and knucklebone.
Now share with us a favorite poem of your own that you have written.
We Were Horses
Break me. Swat me into a box. Put eighteen stitches in my lower lip, make my teeth the fault line. You should not have to tell me twice.Whisper from your green, unbroken mouth into my pricked ears, make me believe it.Force me. Let me thrash. Teach me a lesson. Lead me through the water.Abandon me.
(originally published in PANK Magazine)
Finally, if you could have a meal with anyone, dead or alive, real or imaginary, who would it be? And what on earth would the two of you eat?
TS Eliot. Grilled octopus, freshly caught on a fishing boat in the Aegean.
I have a tremendous amount of creative energy that at times I do not know what to do with it. If I am not writing poems, I need to be doing something. For years I have taken pictures of things that interest me, and recently I have begun submitting those photographs to journals. I have gotten a tremendous response on my work. That's pretty exciting for me.I am very much a loner and many times I tend to isolate for long periods of time-almost hermit like.But I feel that my best writing happens during those times.
Tell us about your first significant literary encounter. Do you feel this experience has shaped you as a writer?
My very first exposure to poetry was George Seferis. I read his work in Greek and was completely blown away. Soon after, having moved to America and learning to speak English I began to discover T.S. Eliot, and so many others. At that time, I knew this was all shaping me towards something bigger in my life. All I knew is that I wanted to write poems. Do you have any kind of creative patterns, routines, or rituals? How do you write a poem from start to finish - is it spontaneous, or more of a preconceived idea? What do you hope to communicate to your readers? I would not say I have rituals or patterns, but my favorite time to write is early in the morning. I do not always get to do that. I feel as if my mind is less cluttered at that time and I write with more freedom. Most of my poems are spontaneous but because of that I am careful to do research if I reference something in a particular poem. It's important to me to be accurate. I write in complete silence. Ultimately, if a reader of one of my poems is left with an emotion, with feeling, something,then I feel as a poet I have connected with someone. The greatest thing for me is when someone has read my work and then contacts me and tells me how it impacted them on an emotional level. I feel that is the greatest thing any writer can achieve, touching the readers with their words.
In your opinion, what is the point of poetry? What makes it important to writers as well as readers?
The point is the impact of language and the beauty and art created with words. It's important because it is soul bearing for the poet, for the readerbecause it takes a stand in their soul.
Some people believe there is a great divide between European and American writers. Based on your experiences growing up in Europe, and also living in America, how do you feel about this topic in general? On a personal level, how has experiencing these two cultures had a personal impact on your writing, and your life?
I grew up in Europe, and even after moving to America, I spent a tremendous amount of time traveling, even lived in Paris for some time. I do not feel the divide; maybe that is because I read and write poetry in both languages, I am not sure. For me poetry is one art. No matter what types of poems one writes: slam, experimental, narrative, etc.. It's a pet peeve of mine when writers segregate the art. There is a definite influence in my work that refers to my culture, my surroundings in Europe, even to my upbringing which was Greek. I cannot help it, that in the sense of it is part of who I am as a writer as much as anything else. I write poems about Greece and many poems about my life when I lived in Paris, or was traveling through other parts of Europe.
Helen, we would like to extend our congratulations on your successful THRUSH Poetry Journal . It's a beautiful journal filled with beautiful poems. Tell us how THRUSH came to be, what you look for in a submission, and what you see in THRUSH's future.
Thank you for the kind words on THRUSH! I love it and I am equally in love with every poem I publish. I have wanted to start a journal for some time, THRUSH was always somewhere in the back of my mind. I wanted a journal that is not about the site aesthetic, art or fiction, etc. I wanted a simple design that focuses entirely on the poet and the poems presented. I try to fill the issues with different styles of poems and present an eclectic mix. It's very simple as to what I look for: I have to love the poem. I get hundreds of good poems that I like very much, but decline them. That is not to say that every reader will love every poem I chose to publish, but I feel THRUSH gives them many chances to fall in love with poetry. Some for the first time, others all over again.THRUSH Press will be publishing select chapbooks, the journal's year end 'best of' anthology, poetry ephemera, etc. We are also tossing around an idea of starting an award/prize anthology. In which other journals can nominate poems and participate. It would be exclusive to poetry only and published on line annually. The future of the journal itself is to continue to publish the best poetry available to us in each of our editions.
Editing is a unique experience. How has your experience been so far, and has it changed or evolved any perspective you may have held previously about the industry?
It most certainly is. I would not say it has changed it, but I would say starting THRUSH has been a quick lesson in the small presses for me. Up until its startup, I only knew the small presses as a poet /submitter. I now have the knowledge and understanding of the 'behind the scenes' end of it.
What is one of your favorite poems by another author? Leave it here for us so we can all read it too.
I have so many poems that I love, but I will leave this:
The Truth the Dead Know
- Anne Sexton
Gone, I say and walk from church,
refusing the stiff procession to the grave,
letting the dead ride alone in the hearse.
It is June. I am tired of being brave.
We drive to the Cape. I cultivate
myself where the sun gutters from the sky,
where the sea swings in like an iron gate
and we touch. In another country people die.
My darling, the wind falls in like stones
from the whitehearted water and when we touch
we enter touch entirely. No one's alone.
Men kill for this, or for as much.
And what of the dead? They lie without shoes
in the stone boats. They are more like stone
than the sea would be if it stopped. They refuse
to be blessed, throat, eye and knucklebone.
Now share with us a favorite poem of your own that you have written.
We Were Horses
Break me. Swat me into a box. Put eighteen stitches in my lower lip, make my teeth the fault line. You should not have to tell me twice.Whisper from your green, unbroken mouth into my pricked ears, make me believe it.Force me. Let me thrash. Teach me a lesson. Lead me through the water.Abandon me.
(originally published in PANK Magazine)
Finally, if you could have a meal with anyone, dead or alive, real or imaginary, who would it be? And what on earth would the two of you eat?
TS Eliot. Grilled octopus, freshly caught on a fishing boat in the Aegean.
Helen Vitoria's work can be found and is forthcoming in many online and print journals: elimae, MudLuscious Press, PANK, Rougarou, FRIGG Magazine, Dark Sky Magazine and others. She is the author of four chapbooks and a full length poetry collection: Corn Exchange forthcoming from Scrambler Books, Spring 2012. Her poems have been nominated for Best New Poets & the Pushcart Prize. She is the Founding Editor & Editor in Chief of THRUSH Poetry Journal & THRUSH Press. Find her here: www.helenvitoria-lexis.blogspot.com
