Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? I’ve chosen the poem “Migrations.” The poem began by thinking about differences people may have in a relationship. Some are more challenging than others. The bird image and the title suggest the fluidity of the relationship—birds often don’t stay; they go when the time is right. My husband and I love watching birds from our porch. In that way we are the same. Yet in the poem, Jeff loves to fish and Jerry doesn’t (in “real” life neither of us fish). I wanted to think about differences and common ground co-existing.
Credit and Copyright by Christal Ann Rice Cooper
Where were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the place in great detail. I was where I almost always am when I write—at my desk in my home office. Usually that means at least one cat behind the keyboard and a bunch of CDs on the desk or on the floor. Right now, I’m looking at Abba’s new CD called Voyage. I have a window but it has old wooden slats which don’t do a good job at keeping the sun out of my eyes, so I tape paper to some of them. The office (BELOW) is one of the chillier places in the house so I have a space heater at the ready. I retired a year and a half ago and had to get loads of books out of my school office. They are stacked up and I’m looking forward to getting a couple of decent shelving units for them.
What month and year did you start writing this poem? I’m not sure when I began it and I don’t save that information. It was probably around 2016.
Were there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the final version? And can you share them with us? The poem began as a prose poem, but it felt unfocused and gassy. So, I started to revise to cut out the unneeded words. The lines are longer than many of my poems. The ending took some doing as I wanted/hoped that it would unify the poem and help give more insight into the relationship. When I changed it from being a prose poem, I deleted many lines. I don’t have those earlier drafts, but I had to carve out the unneeded lines and words.
What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? I hope the poem can be a door into thinking about their own relationships and connections. I hope Jeff and Jerry aren’t just “serious” characters but also capable of being humorous. Relationships are sometimes in a state of migration and we don’t know where we will end up. Somehow we navigate those changes and uncertainties.
Which part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why? The last two lines are an emotional center for me: “You drink the coffee, see the boat/ through the binoculars and drift like a ripple.” There’s the mundane (drinking coffee, looking through binoculars) and yet there’s the subtle drifting like a ripple, something present but which may not be seen.
Has this poem been published? And if so where? It first appeared in a journal called Shantih in 2017. Then it just came out in my new book from Meadowlark Press called Lilac and Sawdust.
https://www.meadowlark-books.com/