From left to right: LJ Weisberg, Sussan Yanez, Emma Field, and Salena Wiener.
Interview by Isabella Wang
This is the second instalment of Isabella Wang’s conversation with young emerging writers. Check out the first part, in which young writers talk about navigating the publishing industry, here.
Why Poetry? As Wayde Compton said to me once, “You’ll meet people as you age who don’t know what they are doing with their lives, who dwell in the pain of having no purpose; you’ll realize this isn’t a problem you’ve ever had, because of writing.” I know many young writers who feel the same way, and I have been able to sit down with some of them to talk about poetry, performance art, and the importance of community. LJ Weisberg is a spoken word poet and a non-binary queer writer, studying at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Sussan Yanez is a 24-year-old old single mother and full-time first year Bachelor of Arts and Sciences student at Quest University Canada. Emma Field is a poet, currently pursuing a degree in microbiology with a minor in environmental studies at the University of Victoria. Salena Wiener is an emerging Canadian poet, currently studying English Literature at Concordia University.
Isabella Wang: Hi lovely folks! I’m so glad to be joining you in this space today. First off, tell us about yourself. How did you come to writing? When did you know that this was something that you wanted to do?
LJ Weisberg : Hi there Isabella, first of all, thank you! I’m so glad for the opportunity to share about myself and my work in this interview. Both my parents read to me when I was young—they are both book lovers. I started writing stories as soon as I learned that there were people, authors, behind the novels I cherished so deeply. I started writing poetry around the age of twelve, and I’ve been performing in slams in my hometown of Kingston, Ontario, since I was fourteen.
Sussan Yanez: Hi Isabella. I am very grateful to share this virtual space with you today! I am a survivor of domestic violence and intergenerational trauma. From mixed ancestries, I was born in the South-Western coast in the ancient Wallmapu and formerly known Chile in Viña del Mar. I am a cultural facilitator and multidisciplinary artist, and I started writing poetry when I was six years old. Back then I already organized dance performances by donation in front of my mother’s candy shop.
Emma Field: I lovingly refer to poetry as my ‘side hustle’ and am thankful that writing occupies a space in my life that is decidedly separate from my academic activities. That being said, I began writing spoken word poetry as a directed study project in the ninth grade. Like many poets in their infant stage, I became enamoured with the online works of poets like Sarah Kay and Shane Koyczan. My community poetic upbringing began at the Vancouver poetry slam, where I was attracted to the electricity and immediacy of live poetry performance.
Salena Wiener: Thank you for inviting me to join you in this conversation! I’ve been writing privately since I was very young, but I started writing poetry with the intent of getting published when I began working as an editor for Soliloquies Anthology Magazine last year. Having the opportunity to work with other writers allowed me to learn about different avenues where I could share my work, so I started writing and submitting my poems to journals. I’ve always known this was something that I wanted to do.
IW: I’d love to hear more about your writing. What are you currently working on? What are some themes that occupy your work? Are there any issues you find yourself wanting to address in your work?
LJ: I suppose my style of poetry can best be described as a mix between spoken word and free verse, and its content is intensely personal. I use my poetry as a form of catharsis and as a way to capture the part of my life I am experiencing at the time I am writing it. It’s reflection, relief, and politics all at the same time. I don’t set out trying to capture the struggles of trans folks, being adopted, and not quite fitting in, but because that has been my experience, my work is often about those issues.
SY: In a world that tells us feeling is fragile, I reclaim my feelings and allow them to flow as the genuine gifts and teachings they are. They speak directly of who I am, though do not define me, and what my intuition has to say—the voice of my ancestors, this inner wisdom we carry. Thoughts are venerated in our societies, and our bodies diminished, especially when related to our femininities, even in male bodies. So, in writing, I share my uterus and bloods, which is neither disgusting nor filthy, as I was taught, but constantly flowering and burgeoning with life. We have the honour to shed the only bloods on earth that bring life but speak of death and I want to honour the power that entails.
EF: When compiling a chapbook last year, I was sort of surprised to find a running theme in the poems from my first four years of writing or so. That theme was a sort of frustration with having one’s identity and essence being defined or delineated by others. Perhaps a classically teenage topic, but in reflection, I find it interesting that I often addressed this through extended metaphor, gesturing to my feelings more implicitly. Today, I am trying to place myself in my poetry more, and this also mean taking myself less seriously, addressing the gross and awkward and silly parts of myself, trying to unlearn the elitist ‘pristine-ness’ that is often lives in the literary world.
SW: My poetry generally explores themes of love, trauma, mental illness, anti-semitism, sexual violence, and nature, and how femininity intersects with these subjects. In particular, my poem “black bird” (Honey and Lime’s blog Oceans & Time) explores sexual trauma, and how the female body holds these experiences over time. My poem “the blue pill” (Peculiars Magazine) explores the relationship between the self, society or culture, and seeking treatment for mental illness. Other poems such as “bodies like gardens” (Pulp Poets Press) or “waves” (Peculiars Magazine) deal with the female subject, relationships, and nature.
IW: Talk us through your writing process.
LJ: When I write poetry, I often start by spilling my thoughts and emotions onto the page, then setting the work aside for a couple of days. After I go back to edit, I go through three to four drafts or more, sometimes while performing all of them onstage on seperate nights. This helps give me a feel for what the strengths and weaknesses of the piece are by gauging the audience’s reaction. When I’m satisfied with the content and structure of the piece, I work towards memorizing it, and perfecting how to perform it theatrically.
SY: In my childhood I would write love letters and songs to my brother’s friends (who were all fourteen years older than me—I was an ambitious polyamorous at the time). In my teenage years, I would mostly write short stories depicting fictitious scenarios where I found the safety I didn’t feel in my everyday life, and this would often be late at night. In 2016, I started writing about my traumas straightforward. And today, I am mostly storytelling and then write it down. It all starts always with an irresistible feeling of communicating something, which before scared me tremendously to verbalize, but empowers me today.
EF: The most important aspect of my writing process is incubation. When the beginnings of a poem form in my mind, I must sit on the egg of that idea to warm it up and allow it to mature before I put pen to paper. Because most of my writing is spoken, this often begins by experimenting with phrases aloud to develop the performative tone and cadence of the poem, as well as brainstorming the poem’s wordplay and language. Over days or even weeks I will write little bits of the poem at a time, often stepping back to allow the poem to incubate and then returning to refine and expand it.
SW: I spend a significant amount of time just thinking about the subjects of the poem. Oftentimes I’ll be thinking about a particular idea or experience for a few days or weeks, until I think of a metaphor or image that illustrates the experience well. I’ll then sit down to write the poem by hand in my notebook, before typing it up and editing the form on my computer. Usually I’ll have someone else look it over, and I’ll edit it some more with their suggestions, then sit on it for a few days before calling it a ‘finished’ poem.
IW: Aside from your own writing, each of you are doing important work in the community as well. What are some things that you are involved in? How you came to find those communities, and what that means for you?
LJ: When I moved to Vancouver this fall, I found a real community in the weekly Van Slam at Cafe Deux Soleils. People are super friendly and welcoming there, which is amazing as a newcomer to this city. I love the fun atmosphere and wonderful organizers who work so hard to make sure the slam runs smoothly. Since September, I’ve also performed at Mashed Poetics this January, and in the Van Slam Finals after accumulating points over the season. Most recently, I was invited to perform at the Growing Room Festival So You Think You Can Slam? event.
SY: I have been involved in the international and local indigenous ceremonial communities that gather on these territories for the past two years. I became a cultural facilitator in the Resurfacing History Project along with Jolene Andrew and Cease Wyss in Vancouver. I have helped organize a few reunions here and there, translated for the medicine carrier elders from the south and organized Visionaries’ Gathering in Squamish on the Quest University campus in January 2019. My first poetry reading happened at the Intention Gathering on the Sunshine Coast in the new year of 2018 and I just had my first “official” reading to an unknown public at the event Future Ancestors hosted by Indigenous Brilliance as part of the Growing Room Feminist Literary Festival. I came to these communities through the guidance of Spirit and it means the world to me! I am finally aligning with my purpose and thanking the tremendous wisdom of the spiritual leaders of these communities.
EF: When I first began writing poetry, I played a very active role in my high school in fostering a spoken word community by leading a poetry club, coaching our competitive team, and hosting events. In university I had the opportunity to merge my passion for writing and environmentalism by hosting writing workshops through the university’s Environmental Studies Student Association to provide writers with resources for submitting their work to the association’s zine. After touring across Canada with the Tiny Tricycle Poets, I also became exposed to the national poetry community, and my experience with this was largely characterized by the hospitality and openness in receiving us and our poetry (and often offering a couch for us to crash).
SW: I previously served as a Prose Editor for Soliloquies Anthology Magazine in 2017-2018, and I read at Subversions: A Journal of Feminist Queries’ Launch for their 13th Volume. I found these communities through Concordia University, meeting different people in my program who were involved with the projects. It means a lot to me that I was able to connect with these communities, and particularly that I was able to work for Soliloquies. These were the first opportunities where I was able to really engage with the Canadian literary community, despite having been born and raised in Montreal.
IW: Where do you turn to for inspiration? What are some titles that you return to time after time? Other writers that have had an influence on you? Writing spot preferences?
LJ: Most often, I turn to my mother, who is also a writer, for inspiration. I see her work so hard on her craft and really dedicate herself to what she loves doing, even on the days when the work isn’t coming together the way she’d like. Favourite books include Billy-Ray Belcourt’s book of poetry This Wound Is A World, which was a really inspiring take on playing with form and removing language taboos. Another book that’s a classic childhood favourite of mine is Watership Down. My favourite writing spot is anywhere absolutely silent—maybe a library, or the bus.
SY: Within. We are taught by the structural models of our society that we are incomplete, that we inherently lack something. But when we come to acknowledge that what is without is within, just like our oldest relations teach, “We are all One”, we can realize that we are so full of life force and unconditional love. Of course, it is scary to put our walls down where predators still thrive as “wealthy and successful”, but the strength we carry is from Mother Earth. The hatred and unconsciousness of those who perpetuate scarcity is by nature not sustainable, therefore will not last. We live in a brilliant universe with infinite flow of movement that inevitably puts things in balance and that is my inspiration.
EF: I can’t really say that I seek out inspiration in a specific location, but rather I like to take time in my life to reflect upon my experiences and ritualize the act of of synthesizing them—a poem for me is often a product of this synthesis. In this way, I suppose the inspiration for writing comes from making space and time for creative thought and reflection. That being said, the momentum for this process has been always been bolstered by the work of other poets, especially women and femme poets, in the communities around me. Lucia Misch and Jillian Christmas are two poets whose work has always compelled me and pushed me to strive for improvement in my craft.
SW: I turn to both books and music as inspiration for my poetry. My favourite poetry book which I keep returning to right now is Alice Notley’s The Descent of Alette, for Notley’s wonderful use of language and her honest construction of a female heroine who is allowed to be strong, mournful, passive, and compassionate. Some bands whose lyrics and themes inspire my work are Being As An Ocean, La Dispute, Architects, and Pink Floyd. My main influences in terms of writers are the Romantics, particularly Wordsworth and Mary Shelley.
IW: Speaking of influences, who were the people that helped you get here? Give them a heartfelt shoutout, if you will.
LJ: I’d really like to thank my parents for introducing me to writing at an early age, and instilling the importance of language into me. I’d also like to give a shoutout to Bruce Kauffman in Kingston, Ontario, who was there for me as soon as I stepped onto the stage at the Queens University Poetry Slam. I’d also like to thank everyone there who made me feel welcome at such a young age. More recently, I’d like to give a huge thank you to everyone from the Vancouver writing scene, you’ve all been instrumental to my growth as an artist.
SY: My mother has been an incredible matriarch my entire life and has always believed in my art. Also, if it wasn’t for my brother, I would not be here. He invited us back to Canada after I left Montreal. Then, social media brought me to a show with Yaima, where I met the conscious dancing community that connected me to the ceremonial indigenous community here. I then met Darrell Bob and Theresa Fenton Bob, who broke my heart open to heal (it sounds worse than it really was). Stacy Gallagher, now one of my best friends, invited me to the George Family Sundance, which has been a pillar to the evolution of my spiritual path. Again, Jolene Andrew, Cease Wyss, Lori Snyder, elder Xuyach, uncle Lee Brown, and the international elders and medicine carriers, Don Chabelo and Flavio Santi have been the greatest influence for me.
EF: The first person who really taught me that growth, community, and support are at the heart of creating good poetry was my mentor and friend Jacob Gebrewold. We met right at the beginning of my time in slam, and his first assignment to me as his mentee was to read John C. Maxwell’s The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. He understood on an intimate level how fostering a thriving poetry community is dependent on leadership that motivates, empowers, and affirms those involved. This, among many other lessons learned from Jacob and other incredible mentors (such as RC Weslowski!) have helped me keep the heart and the human-ness at the forefront of my poetry endeavors.
SW: There are many people in the community that have helped me grow as an artist. I want to thank the Editors at Cauldron Anthology for accepting my first poems for publication and giving them a good home, and Claire L. Smith, poetry editor at Peculiars Magazine, for accepting two of my poems more recently. I also want to give a shout out to Wanda Deglane, whose new journal Honey and Lime Lit has given voice to some incredible artists, and kindly hosted my work on their poetry blog Oceans & Time. Also, I want to thank Emily Cox for always helping me edit my poems and giving me great feedback and support.
IW: I want to give each of you the space to reflect on your past writing experiences.What are some struggles or setbacks that you’ve had to face? What are some areas either in performance art or writing that you feel could be improved?
LJ: Looking back, I wish I had been given more tools to improve upon my work earlier. In the highschool system, there’s a sense of reading and writing to analyze, not to ask questions about how the author creates. I think this was detrimental to my own creative development. I was lead to think my way of reading the work wasn’t valid, or that it was incorrect. As for setbacks, in highschool I was told by my careers teacher that “writing is not a real career,” which I have to say was a bit of a blow to my self esteem.
SY: Sometimes the intensity of my words become intimidating and scary for the readers or the people that are present for it, and even for myself. But I keep in mind that remembering our inherent sacredness should be intimidating, for remembering that we have a tremendous power to change our realities NOW is a big responsibility that should not be taken lightly. I learned about Submittable back in 2017, when I applied to several contests and openings for submissions. The platform is brilliant but somewhat inaccessible to an inexperienced submitter, for the categorization of art and poetry is limiting and it should take in consideration the emerging artists which are intersectional. It should also become more inclusive for the lower income artists that cannot cover the submission fees.
EF: A major milestone in my writing experience was understanding that slam is not the end and entirety of poetry. I do believe that poetry slams are an incredible tool for sharpening your pen, but it becomes easy to fall into the habit of creating work for the purpose of gaining affirmation in the slam setting. When I began diversifying my poetry performances by building shows and incorporating elements of clowning and comedy, it first felt unnatural to deviate from the familiar exercise of standing on stage for three minutes, performing my poem and exiting. It took a lot of time for me to feel comfortable being candid with an audience in between poems, building a continuous narrative throughout a set, and responding to the vibe of the room.
SW: As an emerging writer I’ve definitely struggled with my confidence to share my work, and to become more vulnerable in those works. I find my writing has gone from being somewhat opaque to being clearer about the experiences it wishes to convey. Being more open in my writing has been challenging, but I’ve had great support from friends, family, and others in the community. In terms of how I think the publishing industry can be improved, I think further amplifying marginalized voices is extremely important. I think the literary community would benefit greatly by having all publishing avenues, both emerging and established, support marginalized artists.
IW: Lastly, what are you most looking forward to?
LJ: As someone who has been writing a lot about others lately, think I’m most looking forward to it delving inwards, and writing more about my own experiences again.
SY: I hold highly the prophesied visions of the Rainbow Warriors by the indigenous elders of a world in which we honor all of our relations and that we are able to relate with, first ourselves, then with one another and even with those that are usually not considered as entities, like the elements, in healthy ways.
EF: I am looking forward to doing more of these things in my own poetry career as well, continuing to feed my clown, plotting new projects with The Tiny Tricycle Poets, and forming the slow beginnings of my second chapbook.
SW: I look forward to seeing marginalized voices be further amplified throughout the community, and I am excited to continue reading and writing for the community! I am currently working on some new poems which I hope I can share soon.
LJ Weisberg is a non-binary queer poet and author currently living in Vancouver, BC. They are a first year student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, looking towards a major in creative writing. In their hometown of Kingston Ontario, they have been featured in the Queer Songbook Orchestra, and performed in the Skeleton Park Arts Festival of 2018, alongside Steven Heighton. Since moving to Vancouver in September last fall they have performed in this January’s Mashed Poetics, and the Vancouver Poetry Slam Finals. In their spare time, they enjoy longboarding, creating visual art, and listening to the musical Hamilton on repeat.
Sussan Yanez remains in a vibrant state of surrender into the present. Not one that gives up on the values she defends, but one that receives each experience as an opportunity to devote remotely to the realization that we are all sacred. Situating herself as a resilient single mother that is a survivor of domestic violence, colonization and intergenerational trauma, she carries blood from the oppressors and the oppressed and her life purpose is to broaden the perspectives, shed that which is no longer beneficial and reclaim the interrelated self-sovereignty that we all carry. Her family decided to move to the province of Quebec in 2003 and as an occupant of the territories of the Iroquoian, Mohawk, and Mi’kmaq, nations in Montreal, she also became a Canadian citizen. She is now learning to become an ally of the indigenous nations of the world, including of her own ancestry erased from the official records.
Emma Field is a poet hailing from Coquitlam, BC that resides on Vancouver Island most of the time. She is studying microbiology and environmental studies at the University of Victoria and tries to see the world through a clown’s eyes She earned the title of Vancouver Youth Grand Slam Champion in 2017 and is currently one third of the Tiny Tricycle Poets, a travelling poetry collective with an ego problem. In 2018, Emma self-published her first chapbook, titled I’m Still Orbiting, and thinks that Pluto just deserves a little bit more love. She is trying to be mature about eating celery.
Salena Wiener lives in Montreal, and is pursuing her undergraduate degree in English Literature Honours at Concordia University. She is a former Prose Editor for Soliloquies Anthology Magazine, and her poetry is featured in Pulp Poets Press, Peculiars Magazine, Cauldron Anthology, and Honey & Lime Magazine’s poetry blog Oceans & Time. Her academic essay “As White as Snow: Uncanny Beauty in Oyeyemi’s Boy, Snow, Bird” has also been featured in the Literature Undergraduates Colloquium at Concordia Proceedings 2019 Journal. Twitter: @salena_wiener | Instagram: @salenaw_poems.
Isabella Wang’s debut poetry chapbook is forthcoming with Baseline press in 2019. At 18, she is the youngest two-time finalist and writer shortlisted for The New Quarterly’s Edna Staebler Essay Contest. Her poetry and prose have appeared in over a dozen literary journals, and she holds a pushcart prize nomination in poetry. She studying English and World Literature at SFU, interning at Room Magazine, serving as the Youth Advocate for the BC Federation of Writers, and co-ordinating the bi-weekly Dead Poets Reading Series.