10 Questions for Akil Kumarasamy

- By Amal Zaman and Danielle Brown

Laalini, the woman I married, recited for me three lines of poetry about this world of dew and confessed her love for Issa, and before I learned he was a poet, I thought he was an old lover, and the jealousy and the relief I felt then left me walking the city in a trance as if I had almost lost what was irretrievable, dear as an arm. - from " Meditations" which appears in our Spring 2016 Issue (Volume 57, Issue 1).

Tell us about one of the first pieces you’ve written

When I first started writing fiction, I wrote a story about an elephant killing a tourist in India and later as retribution, the elephant is killed.  It was called an “Eye for an Eye.” Only a few pages long, it was the first story I wrote that felt complete and resonated with me. 

What writer(s) or works have influenced the way you write now?

James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Edwidge Danticat, Bernard Malamud, Arundhati Roy

What other professions have you worked in?

Besides teaching creative writing, I’ve worked as a data/business analyst, where I pulled stories from numbers.

What did you want to be when you were young?

I wanted to be a zoologist because I loved the idea of being with animals. Since I didn’t own any pets and lived in central New Jersey, the wildlife I saw was brief and distant. I didn’t quite understand the practicalities of the profession, but even now when I see a few birds on a tree, I sometimes long for the expertise of an ornithologist.

What inspired you to write this piece?

This piece is part of a larger work. I was searching for ways to write about a moment of violence without dramatizing the act. My interest was in how trauma spills over, beyond the incident, across place and time. I found that writing this story in a more fragmentary style allowed me the fluidity to move between the past and present while still retaining a narrative arc. 

Is there a city or place, real or imagined, that influences your writing?

Dismal Swamp in Jersey, where I grew up.

Is there any specific music that aids you through the writing or editing process?

I usually listen to music to help me enter a certain mood or tone I need for the work. Jhené Aiko is always a good place to start.

Who typically gets the first read of your work?

It depends on what I’m working on but you definitely want someone you trust and has an eye for language. For this piece, the poet Esteban Ismael gave it a read. His poem “The Ghetto Bird (III)” came out in the Winter 2015 issue of The Massachusetts Review and on Poetry Daily.

If you could work in another art form what would it be?

It would probably be in animation. I’m a big fan of the films from Studio Ghibli and I’m currently making my way through Season 2 of Rick and Morty. Also, I’ve been dabbling with pastels, making some weird images. I’ve found that drawing helps with the writing process.

What are you reading right now?

I’m reading Ottessa Moshfegh’s Eileen and Susan Sontag’s Regarding the Pain of Others.