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? This poem was written in response to the onslaught of well-intentioned folks asking “How are you?” or “Are you okay?” I had to learn what it meant to be disabled. I didn’t really know how to answer the questions. Some days, my step is steady and my words are smooth. On those days, my disability isn’t visible. But physical pain is a daily part of my life. Many folks don’t understand that I don’t have to be using my walker to be in pain. The “you” in this poem is both my partner (Below) and a larger social “you.” It was written initially as a response to my partner, but in the act of writing, grew larger.
Where were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the place in great detail. I wrote this poem on the porch swing in front of our house while my children played in the driveway. Setting is a huge part of this poem, and the images from the poem connect directly to the place and time it was written. The poem in many ways typifies a residential Missouri pastoral. It hopes to capture a small moment after a storm.
What month and year did you start writing this poem? The poem was written in early 2020 while I was learning to walk again after my first major flair of MS.
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 was written almost entirely whole with very little cut during revision. Of course, small words were changed and lines rearrange. The original poem began with what is now the last line of the poem. The last image was originally the title. I often begin poems by writing titles. In this case, the line worked better at the end.
What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? I hope readers take empathy from the poem. It is a glimpse into one moment in one disabled body. The “veil” here is lifted for readers to make what is invisible a little more visible.
Which part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why? The last line, that was initially written first, is an emotional piece for me. Disability and pain are difficult to make metaphorical. One image doesn’t do the job.
Has this poem been published? And if so where? The poem was published in 2020 in West Trestle Review (Link is Above)
It will also appear in Cataloguing Pain, my forthcoming collection from YesYes Books.
Allison Blevins received her MA at Pittsburg State University and MFA at Queens University of Charlotte. She is a Lecturer for the Women’s Studies Program at Pittsburg State University. Her work has appeared in such journals as Mid-American Review, the minnesota review, Raleigh Review, and Sinister Wisdom.
She is the author of the full length collection Slowly/Suddenly (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press, 2021). Her collections Handbook for the Newly Disabled (BlazeVox, 2022) and Cataloguing Pain (YesYes Books, 2022), a finalist for the Pamet River Prize, are both forthcoming. She is also the author of the chapbooks Susurration (Blue Lyra Press, 2019), Letters to Joan (Lithic Press, 2019), and A Season for Speaking (Seven Kitchens Press, 2019), part of the Robin Becker Series. Chorus for the Kill (Seven Kitchens Press), her collaborative chapbook with the poet Josh Davis, is forthcoming in 2022.
She has been nominated for the Stephen Meats Poetry Prize, the Stanley Hank Memorial Prize, the Best of the Net, and the Pushcart Prize. She has also been a finalist for the Cowles Poetry Book Prize, the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, the Glass Chapbook Series, the Wicked Woman Poetry Prize from BrickHouse Books, and the Moon City Poetry Award.
Allison serves as the Director of Small Harbor Publishing and as the Executive Editor at the museum of americana. She lives in Missouri with her spouse and three children where she co-organizes the Downtown Poetry reading series.