“Milk & Skin,” “Cold Front,” and “What To Think Of” by Elya Braden originally appeared in Issue 30 and can be read here: https://www.sequestrum.org/poetry-by-elya-braden.
We’d love to hear more about “Cold Front.”
The poem was inspired both by reading Jeffrey McDaniel’s “The Quiet World” and current events – the bizarre polar vortex that was spinning tornedo storms in the Midwest while our then-President was denying the scientific reality of climate change.
Which poem in this set was most difficult to write?
“What to Think Of.” I had written, or tried to write about the event described in the poem at least 10 times before, but the poems were always too explainy or too victimy. Then I read Mark Strand’s poem: “What to Think Of” in a poetry workshop. Starting in the moment from the outside in to create an atmosphere of place before describing what was happening to me in the place made all the difference. The other key was accepting my responsibility for what happened while also alluding to how women are so often blamed as somehow asking to be sexually violated.
Recommend a book for us which was published within the last decade.
I am a voracious reader, especially now with audiobooks making it so easy to listen to books wherever you are, so it’s hard to narrow it down. But one book that has been a stand-out for me recently was The Ministry For The Future. I was impressed with Mr. Robinson’s ability to incorporate a compelling story with a detailed, 360-degree view of climate change world-wide – how we’ve gotten to where we are and what can be done to turn this enormous ship around through both systemic and grassroots action. It was both terrifying and uplifting.
If you could have a drink with any living author, who would it be? Why?
Jenny Lawson, because her books – Let’s Pretend This Never Happened and Furiously Happy – make me cry with one line and laugh out loud the next. She writes into vulnerability in such an authentic and hilarious way that she seems like someone you could talk to about anything, especially over drinks.
What are you working on now? What’s next?
This year, I’ll be readying my second chapbook, The Sight of Invisible Longing, for publication in early 2023, and completing my full-length poetry manuscript. Plus reading submissions for Gyroscope Review, for which I’m Assistant Editor, and continuing to write and submit new poems to literary journals.
Our thanks to Elya for taking the time to answer a few questions and share these poems. Read Braden’s poetry here: https://www.sequestrum.org/poetry-by-elya-braden.
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Elya Braden took a long detour from her creative endeavors to pursue an eighteen-year career as a corporate lawyer and entrepreneur. She is now a writer and mixed-media artist living in Los Angeles and is assistant editor of Gyroscope Review. Her work has been published in Calyx, Causeway Lit, Prometheus Dreaming, Rattle Poets Respond, Willow Review and elsewhere and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She is the author of Open The Fist, recently released by Finishing Line Press. You can find her online at www.elyabraden.com.