Poetic Inspiration with Sandra Ridley
We’re back with another “Poetic Inspiration” feature! Joining us today is Sandra Ridley, author of Vixen!
B*: Please share up to three poetry books or poets that are important to you, and helped influence the writing of Vixen. Please also share how they influenced your book.
SR: Christine McNair’s Charm (Book*hug Press). I always go to McNair’s books for her fearlessness and unyielding intensity. If Vixen has some of this, I’d like to think it comes from McNair.
Phil Hall’s The Ash Bell (Beautiful Outlaw Press). Hall’s writing has shaped mine for years. From him I keep learning there has to be risk in our work. Risk and ferocious grace.
Jennifer Still’s Legs (Baseline Press). I want to highlight one chapbook and this is it. Legs is a deeply moving non-linear weaving of absence and loss. It’s of the body, and it shows that strong and beautiful writing can come from grief.
B*: Please share a writing prompt for aspiring poets that you have used to start composing a new poem.
Go to three non-literary websites and on each, find and read an article that intrigues you. From each article, choose three words, images, or concepts. Integrate as many of these elements as you can to draft a poem. This method works especially well if you’re reading about subjects you’re not familiar with, but feel drawn to or curious about. Develop a draft. Expand your vocabulary. Learn something new. To get you started, here are three websites:
