“But You Craved Permanence”: Six More Questions for A.E. Stallings
Sigurd Glad first interviewed A.E. Stallings back in 2017, asking her five questions that were inspired by her poem “The Barnacle.” Having recently read selections from This Afterlife, Ms. Stallings’s 2022 collection of poems, I was happy to have the chance to circle back and reconnect with one of this site’s favorite poets.
A. E. Stallings was born in 1968, in Decatur, Georgia. Her journey brought her to Athens, Greece, where she currently resides. Currently, Stallings is the Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford. She has published multiple collections of poetry including Olives, a National Book Critics Circle award finalist, and Like, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her piece “Pencil” was featured in Best American Poetry 2018.
After reading “Pencil,” I was immediately drawn to Stallings’ style of writing. Over the course of the piece she brings the reader on a journey, witnessing a battle of the old and the new. She explores topics that are more important now than ever with the speed and complexity of our modern world. As I continued reading her other works the sense of wonder I received from her pieces only strengthened. Eventually, I began to research her backstory. I was intrigued by her life journey and wanted to ask her how she went from being a young girl in rural Georgia to holding one of the most prestigious positions in poetry. Following that discovery, I reached out to A. E. Stallings and our interview began.
What was the most important lesson you learned during your time at the University of Georgia and Oxford?
Write for your dearest friends. They are your ideal audience.
When you were writing your Pulitzer Prize finalist collection Like, did it stand out to you compared to your other works? What do you think made it special?
Mostly it is longer, and it is organized differently: the poems are in alphabetical order.
Has your time in Greece shaped your approach to poetry?
I am also influenced by Greek poetry.
How long did it take you to write “Pencil,” and in a poem with so much emphasis on doubting one’s work, did you make lots of changes as you wrote it?
I think “Pencil” was written relatively quickly, and, ironically, not with a huge amount of revision. Perhaps I dropped a stanza and changed a couple of words.
I noticed that throughout “Pencil” you utilized lots of repetition with words such as “sure,” “permanence,” and “honored.” What were your thoughts on this decision and how did you envision it impacting the piece?
I think the repetitions are simply part of the argument. The poem is partly about changing and undoing, about negations.
You have a mood of nostalgia throughout works such as “Pencil,” “The Pull Toy,” and “The Doll House.” Do you think that the idea of nostalgia has influenced your writing and is there a certain reason you have utilized it?
Nostalgia, and often for childhood and its special consciousness and awareness of the world, is certainly an element of my poetry. Some poems may be an attempt to recapture an earlier mindset.