MR Notes | Mass Review

Interviews

(Almost) 10 Questions for Chip Livingston

February 1, 2021 - By Edward Clifford

They drink like frat boys on spring break, like frat boys on game day. They drink like frat boys in the movies. But they are not frat boys, not yet, and it's a Monday night three weeks into their first semester. Each drink builds unity, helps them forget the hazing at dinner. They drink to think of something daring to shock the brotherhood—a pledge class raid to show they will do anything to be Theta Mus, that they are united as a pledge class, committed and crazy.
—from "The Raid," Volume 61, Issue 4 (Winter 2020)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
The first intentional poem I wrote, for a dramatic monologue workshop with the poet Ai, was a 53-part series imitating...

Interviews

10 Questions for Abigail Chabitnoy

January 29, 2021 - By Edward Clifford

A child walks the familiar road.
A body is found at the mile mark.
Still
they do not suspect foul play.
Still
they say she was Not Afraid.
—from "Girls Are Coming Out of the Water," Volume 61, Issue 4 (Winter 2020)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
The first poem I remember writing was titled “Swimming Underwater”, and it was a concrete poem in the shape of a whirlpool. I must have been no older than 10 or so, and can’t remember anything else about it, nor did I really begin to seriously engage with poetry until perhaps 10 years later, aside from some awful melodramatic pieces in high school I believe my husband is...

Interviews

10 Questions for Jon Hickey

January 25, 2021 - By Edward Clifford

This all happened in one of those good stretches of years, a time I like to call Pax Smiley. It wasn't as bad as the Navy, or the six years I spent at Lino Lakes and various country lockups across the state of Wisconsin. I had that house at the end of Sugar Bush Lane, three big dogs, dish satellite TV, two DVD players, a newish truck of foreign import, and the time to drive far and wide around the state, visiting my people.
—from "Earth Shaker," Volume 61, Issue 4 (Winter 2020)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
When I was eleven, I wrote a play using my grandfather’s Olympic typewriter in the clamshell case. I wrote the play to make money—my brother and I charged a dime from the neighborhood kids...

Interviews

10 Questions for Jessica Mehta

January 15, 2021 - By Edward Clifford

You don't just get to decide to start eatin again, it happens slow,
a groggy crawl and stumble out of a dream.
I didn't choose to starve mysel,
I didn't choose to stop. It was a cycle, my own metamorphosis
—from "'Eating like a Bird, It's Really a Falsity,'" Volume 61, Issue 4 (Winter 2020)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
I have found “poems” that I wrote at six years old, specifically one titled “The Rose.” It was—of course—a far cry from what I write now, but is still indicative of how I’ve always used poetry as my best, most natural form of communication. I also recall writing poems during my undergraduate poetry course days...

Interviews

10 Questions for Lemanuel Loley

January 11, 2021 - By Edward Clifford

dá’ák’ehdi
  dá’át’ąą yiighaad
  yéego dootł’izh
  ‘iiná yił
Niłtsą́ Bi’áád yiilzhoł
  shádi’aah dę́ę́
—from "dá’ák’ehdi (in the cornfield)," Volume 61, Issue 4 (Winter 2020)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
I attended a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) boarding school from tenth grade until graduation. It was one of those schools that was originally intended to eradicate Indigenous identity, but it changed to a place that celebrated Indigenous personhood and encouraged all students to pursue their ambitions. The BIA held an essay contest and I entered an essay...

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Interviews

(Almost) 10 Questions for Chip Livingston

February 1, 2021 - By Edward Clifford

Interviews

10 Questions for Abigail Chabitnoy

January 29, 2021 - By Edward Clifford

Interviews

10 Questions for Jon Hickey

January 25, 2021 - By Edward Clifford

Interviews

10 Questions for Jessica Mehta

January 15, 2021 - By Edward Clifford

Interviews

10 Questions for Lemanuel Loley

January 11, 2021 - By Edward Clifford

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