Language, as in love, can be both searing and safe, a refuge, a home, or a destination. Claire HM's poem, "slowly then all at once," explores this notion, and is now available to read in the print collective! Until then, I'm excited to chat about Claire's pages penned in pandemic.
What does the pandemic currently look like in your city?
The UK is currently in a month long country wide lockdown with only essential shops and places of education open with no mixing of households. In the past 8 months there have been two months where limited mixing of households have been permitted in my home city of Birmingham.
What are some favorite books you've read during quarantine?
Sascha Aurora Akhtar’s 199 Japanese Names for Japanese Trees, Mary Gaitskill’s Veronica, McKenzie Wark’s Reverse Cowgirl, Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay’s Panty, Anne Walsh Donnelly’s The Woman With An Owl Tattoo, and Anne Sexton’s Live or Die.
Have there been any movies, tv shows, podcasts, etc. that have helped keep you at ease the past few months?
“Ghost of a Podcast with Jessica Lanyadoo,” “The Spiritual Gayz,” and “The Secret Library Podcast.”
How has the pandemic affected your writing?
My writing has been an anchor in my life during the pandemic, as it usually is. It helps me to process and to heal in ways that I've found no substitute for.
Are there any projects you are excited to keep working on? If so, can you give us any details (no spoilers please!) about your project?
I'm continuing to adapt and submit my first poetry pamphlet, 'Stirred for a Bird'. It's a sequence of poems where encounters with birds, winged creatures, and their association as messengers from the spiritual realm, is the central motif. The title, taken from GM Hopkins' 'The Windhover' was chosen to reflect the sequence's playfulness with tone, gender, sexuality and spirituality- taking a phrase from the canonical poem and playing on its British colloquial meaning. The poems, like 'Slowly then all at once', often show breakdowns of form, where gaps and silences hold their weight against words. In theme, the poems explore dynamics within heterosexual sex, and the declaration of artistic and spiritual authority from the embodied experience of the ‘othered’.
If asked ten years from now what the past few months have taught you about being a writer, what would come to mind?
Continue to write to process your life, heal in your life, anchor into your life.
Have there been any fellow writers or people in your life who have helped you stay connected during the pandemic?
The online Poetry School courses I've taken with Sascha Aurora Akhtar, Stav Poleg and David Caddy and the awesome community of writers they've held space for to come together have been central to my writing experience in lockdown. As have the Sunday night online write-ins generously hosted by Dal Kular for her magical She Howls writing pack. Oh and Caroline Donahue's 'Dream to Draft' program and all the aspiring and inspiring novelists I've gathered with there. There has been such a range of support offered online to writers during the pandemic, both free to the writer and those that give compensation to the tutor/coach too.
Is there anything that excites you about the changes being incited in the publishing world in light of recent events?
It seems like an expansive time for the small presses and I'm excited by a frequent stream of news of writers being published for the first time. I've seen an increase in open calls by publications and presses to give voice to writers who have experienced being marginalized too, which is encouraging for the future of diversity in small press publishing at least.
Are you a plotter, pantser, or somewhere in between? Has this changed during the pandemic?
I let things bubble and rise. Longer works of fiction often start as poems for me. I'll write a few on a similar subject and I'll start to see a larger story emerge that I want to explore in prose.
Where is your favorite place to write? Has this changed during the pandemic?
I love to coffee shops to avoid the siren call of folding laundry or doom scrolling on my phone. If I've paid for a soya flat white then I want the equivalent value of writing time. At home it's so much easier to get distracted, but that's the only option I have at the moment so I've had to work on my 'not being distracted by chores or my phone' muscle instead.
If you curated a playlist for writing life in the pandemic, what top 5 songs would be on your list?
1.) “Witch” by the bird and the bee
2.) “Breathe” by The Prodigy
3.) “My Favourite Game” by The Cardigans
4.) “Count Your Blessings” by Mattiel
5.) “Divine Hammer” and The Breeders,
ABOUT claire hm
Claire HM teaches English and literacy to migrant communities in Birmingham, UK. She's recently had poetry published in Black Flowers, streetcake, and on Mooky Chick. In October 2021, her debut novella How to Bring Him Back will be published by Fly on the Wall press.
To learn more, follow Claire and her writing journey at her website and on Twitter and Instagram.
Thanks for chatting, Claire!
