Queens Gazette

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Carlie Hoffman

 

Carlie Hoffman is the author of This Alaska (Four Way Books, 2021). Her second collection is forthcoming with Four Way Books in 2023. A poet and translator, her honors include a 92Y Discovery Poetry Prize and an Amy Award from Poets & Writers, and her work has been published in Kenyon Review, Los Angeles Review of Books Quarterly, Boston Review, Jewish Currents, New England Review and elsewhere. Carlie is the founder and editor-in-chief of Small Orange Journal.

NB: How important is it to write every single day? What do you do when you suffer from writer’s block?

CH: Carving out time to write is crucial – especially in a world where one cannot make a living from poetry – because the work that we do in order to stay alive takes up energy and time. So you have to make time. If my energy from my various jobs has drained me too much, I still make an effort to write down something. An image, a thought, a feeling. I try not to be too serious or intentional. Nonsense is useful. Writing the dumbest thing I can think of is useful. I think I place a higher value on reading every day – a poem or a short story or a sentence that is moving. Reading literature and thinking about others’ writing and memorizing poems has saved my life.

NB: What are some of your favorite Queens venues to read poetry? What are some of your favorite Queens bookstores?

CH: I have not yet had the honor of reading my own poetry in Queens – though I am hoping to soon! I did have the absolute joy of helping to host the student reading for my creative writing students at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts at Astoria Bookshop in 2015. That was beautiful and I bought my first-ever copy of Elizabeth Bishop’s collected poems there. In 2018, I put together a poetry reading at Book Culture LIC to fundraise for RAICES. The staff is wonderful in both bookstores.

NB: What are your favorite places to be inspired in Queens?

CH: I recently learned that Queens is the most linguistically diverse place in the world. Being able to walk down the street and be with other people and listen is incredibly inspiring. Queens is a very special borough.

NB: Who are some of your favorite writers with a Queens connection?

CH: To name a few poets who have a Queens connection from either living in Queens, teaching in Queens, or giving readings in Queens: Joseph O. Legaspi, Kimiko Hahn, Ammiel Alcalay, Cornelius Eady, Terrance Hayes, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Natalie Diaz, Lynn Melnick, Pierre Joris, Erin Lynn, Ariel Francisco, Nicollette Barsamian, and Rajiv Mohabir.

NB: What is the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received?

CH: Being a poet means I am an artist. Knowing that there is a distinction between academia and art, though one discipline can lend itself to the other, is one of the most important learning moments of my life and this has helped me to continue writing and living.

NB: What is one thing you wish you knew a decade ago?

CH: Right now, I don’t wish to know anything sooner than I need to know.

NB: How important is it for aspiring writers to earn an MFA?

CH: An MFA offers time, resources, and a space in which to learn. You do not need an MFA to be a writer. If you wish to learn about poetry in a constructive setting that offers deadlines and feedback and community, then I say go for it. Seeking education for learning’s sake is something I will always value.

NB: What role does the rejection letter play to a poet? What advice do you have for readers worried about rejection?

CH: I can’t speak for other poets on what a rejection letter might mean for them, but for me, whenever I send work out, I try to begin new work as soon as possible because I can’t control the outcome; I can only keep writing. And, if I keep writing, if I am rejected from a journal I really want to contribute to, I can submit again right away with something different. For me, I understand rejection as applying to that particular poem for those particular editors in the context of a timeframe. It’s not a failure. It’s not totalitarian. You just try again with something else, or you try to send those poems somewhere else. New literary magazines and collectives emerge often these days and we are so very fortunate to have a wide range of journals and magazines to send our work to.

NB: What is your favorite poem about NYC?

CH: “Awaking in New York” by Maya Angelou. When this poem was featured on the subway and I was having a bad day, I would read it over and over in my head and feel uplifted. When I would read it on the subway and I was having a good day, I would feel uplifted. Thank you, Maya Angelou.

NB: What do you value most in other people?

CH: Kindness.

 

 

—Nicollette Barsamian

For the complete story, visit QGazette.com.

This column was originated in July 2013 by Nicollette Barsamian.

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