“In one way or another I have been an entertainer for most of my life. In college I played bass guitar in a rock band; then, for 43 years as a teacher of writing in a college classroom, I knew that entertainment was part of the deal. Much of my writing, including this book, was meant to be entertaining. This does not mean that readers need to share all my views to enjoy the book.
It deals with a lot of serious stuff. But most of the stories are spiced with humor. My voice is edgy, often self-deprecating, often (I hope) funny. If Kurt Vonnegut and Nora Ephron had had a son, I like to think he would have written the way I do.”
Elizabeth Marro interviews Andrew Merton about his new Accents Publishing book, Gloria Steinem Blurbed Me And Other Miracles: An Autobiography in Prose and Poetry
Katerina Stoykova interviewed the talented and hard-working poet Shanta Lee! In this episode of the Accents podcast on WUKY we talk about her latest book, Do Words Dream Themselves Into Silence Told in Riddles?. Give it a listen!
“Nothing could have prepared me to write a review of A Middle Aged Woman Rages, by Melissa Jørgenrud Helton. Having written well over three hundred book reviews, I have never encountered a collection this outrageous, this angry, this mission focused. Yet, in the same breath, I have yet to engage with a work so compelling, so honest, and so “needed” by western culture. Helton is fresh, bold, and raw. These observations are not in the least pejorative. But they are true.”
Reviewed by Michael Escoubas for “Quill & Parchment.”
Tell us the story of your Accents Publishing book, I Am Woman.
I was lying on a carpeted floor, eyes closed, listening to the specific memories and emotions the different parts of my body held within them. Ellen Hagan, a talented poet and former writing instructor of mine, was leading this exercise at the Kentucky Women Writers Conference in Lexington. When we arose from the floor, we wrote. The result was the first poem I ever wrote for this collection. As I continued to reflect on my own body and to learn about other women’s histories, I felt a growing urge to capture our shared experiences of patriarchal societies in my poetry.
What do you like most about it?
I always strive to create art with a message, and I believe I stayed true to that intention with this collection. I did not shy away from difficult topics, even when they got personal, and I found the courage to share my words with the world.
What did you have to overcome in order to finish and publish a book?
The first poem in the book, The Performance, which is also available to read on the Accents Publishing website, illustrates my fear of not knowing how people would receive my work. To publish this book, I had to learn to be okay with being vulnerable.
What do you hope people learn/receive/experience from reading your book?
My main goal with anything I write is to confront societal issues: to raise awareness, to question, to challenge, to change.
However, I also hope that women find community in these poems.
What was your favorite interaction with a reader and/or a fan?
The most fulfilling part of being a poet is reading in front of an audience and watching everyone’s faces after I deliver the last line. The moment I can see how the poem landed. A nod. A hum. A deep breath. The confirmation that I was heard, that I was seen, that I was felt.
What are you working on now? Catch us up one significant event in your life since the publication of I Am Woman.
I am currently working on a new collection of poetry, all centered around the theme of home. I am exploring what makes people leave home, reflecting on my own journey of leaving Kentucky and inspired by the refugees from the Middle East and Africa that I met while studying abroad in Germany.
Optional bonus question: Is there anything you want to get off your chest about writing or publishing?
I was never any good at writing happy poems. I once asked one of my mentors if that was a problem. Does anyone want to read an entire book of sad poems? He walked to his bookshelf and handed me a book by one of his favorite poets, The Terrible Stories by Lucille Clifton. You can’t please everyone, he told me, all you can do is write your heart and hope it sticks.
