The PoArtMo Anthology Series: Interview with Stacie Eirich

Hello everyone!

Welcome to our PoArtMo Anthology Series, which celebrates the artists whose work appears in The Auroras & Blossoms PoArtMo Anthology: 2021 Edition.

Today’s guest is Stacie Eirich, who contributed the poem titled “Spring’s Essence” to our anthology.

Auroras & Blossoms: Hello Stacie. Congratulations for being a featured artist in our anthology! How does a poem begin for you? Does it start with an image, a form, or a particular theme?

Stacie: When I sit down to write verses, my inspiration comes first from emotion. If something has moved me, whether it be to contemplation or joy or tears, I seek to understand those feelings through the writing of a poem.

Often, my poetry comes from what I love: nature, music and the arts, my family. From what I see, hear, and know intimately. Sometimes, it comes simply from stopping to listen, paying attention to the moment, and letting my thoughts flow freely onto the page.

A&B: Tell us all about the inspiration behind “Spring’s Essence”, the piece that appears in The Auroras & Blossoms PoArtMo Anthology: 2021 Edition.

Stacie: Thank you! I’m happy to share my work with Auroras & Blossoms and am looking forward to seeing the uplifting and artistic work from others in the anthology.

‘Spring’s Essence’ was written in response to William Wordsworth’s famous poem, ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.’ With my poem, I sought to convey a similar sense of linguistic style, as well as reverence for nature and its power to lift and heal our spirits.

A&B: What is your relationship with your speaking voice and your written voice?

Stacie: As both a writer and a singer, I feel that my voices are intimately connected into one artistic, unique voice. Whether I’m crafting verses or rehearsing a score, my experience of the story I’m telling, emotions I feel and the environment I’m in dictate how my voice sounds on the page or in the air.

I’m hyper-aware of how my mind and body feel, in relation to being ready to write or sing; the importance of feeling connected to your breath, your body, mind, and the space around you as an artist can’t be emphasized enough. For any creative practice, I believe, connecting yourself physically and emotionally to your craft is key to reaching your authentic self and true voice.

A&B: Have you considered getting other people to read your poetry or is it important for you to be the one to perform your poetry to an audience?

Stacie: I think it’s crucial for poets to get the chance to perform their own work; we can bring a level of authenticity to it that others could not. However, not every poet is comfortable performing, and it must be exciting to experience others reading your verses.

So, while I’ve never considered getting others to perform my poetry, I do think it would be interesting to see how my poems changed in others’ voices and through their performances!

A&B: How important is accessibility of the meaning of your poems? Should we have to work hard to “solve” the poems and discover their deeper meanings?

Stacie: I want readers to feel relaxed and in tune with my words as they read them, gathering whatever meaning the poem has for them with ease.

Therefore, I think it’s important for my verses to be accessible to readers in terms of meaning; they shouldn’t feel that they need to wrack their brains, mining the words for something hidden or unknowable. Instead, I hope my poems uplift them, move them, and inspire them in ways that are meaningful to them.

A&B: Has your own opinion or idea of what poetry is changed since you first started writing poetry?

Stacie: I began writing poems as young teenager, and at that time wrote mostly free verse to express my feelings and make sense of a changing body and a world I didn’t yet understand. Now, as a forty-something mother of two who are nearly the age I was then – I am still at times that young girl writing to understand both herself and the world. I still use poetry as a space to go when I need an outlet for emotions, I still seek out verses from others when I need comfort, solace, a friend.

What has changed perhaps, is what I’m writing about, as well as the lens I’m viewing the world through. Poetry is a larger field of words and experiences to me now than it was at 14; the world is still a large and scary place, but it also feels more tenable, more knowable, vast but beautiful, political, and ever-changing. Poetry, like the Earth itself, is constantly in-flux, yet will be ever-connected to time, our stories, and those of our ancestors. This is something I’m still learning, though the verses of contemporary poets like Joy Harjo, Ada Limon, and Mary Oliver.

A&B: Tell us the most positive and uplifting advice you have been given while working on your poetry.

Stacie: That if I allow myself the space to create and the time to be inspired, the verses – and joy – will come.

Bio:

Stacie Eirich is a writer, singer and mother who reads poetry by moonlight and dreams of traveling beyond the stars. She is the author of The Dream Chronicles, a fantasy series for middle-grade readers. Her poems and stories have been published in Scarlet Leaf Review, MUSED, Wee Tales, and Ruby Magazine. 

Stacie lives with her family and two feisty furballs—writing, singing, mothering, and dreaming.

Website: https://www.stacieeirich.com

Stacie, thank you for answering our questions and supporting Auroras & Blossoms! We know that people will love your poems as much as we do!

Cendrine & David