“A Letter Never Sent,” “Who Knows a Person’s Capacity for Love,” “The House Your Father Built,” and “College Road Trip” by Mistee St. Clair appeared in Issue 45 and can be found here.
We’d love to hear more about this set of poetry.
Writing, for me, is a way to explore, to get at my own personal truths, or to discover new truths. Sometimes this is exploring something very personal or painful, and writing helps me process in order to come to an understanding. Sometimes I am excited about something I have learned about the world, and writing, thinking poetically is a way to deepen that excitement.
Is there something you found difficult in writing this set?
The hardest part of writing poetry is to let go of control and listen to the poem. It is not about what you want to say. You already know that. But the poem has something to say, it holds a new understanding within it. That is what you, and the reader, is after. The only way to uncover it is to be open and listen.
Recommend a book for us which was published within the last decade.
I just finished Annie Wenstrup’s “The Museum of Unnatural Histories.” I didn’t know poems could do what she does! Art and form are the framework for her language. She seamlessly fuses traditional Native stories, Western myths, and sci-fi. How is this possible? And somehow you don’t get lost or fly away, you are grounded by the body, the land, and the urgent present.
If you could have a drink with any living author, who would it be? Why?
This is hard because there are so many wonderful, exciting poets I am in the company with right now! I can’t choose one. I would be delighted to have a drink with Jericho Brown, Ellen Bass, Ross Gay, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Naomi Shihab Nye…I admire their work, but more than that, they all seem to exude warmth and generosity. I imagine it would be encouraging and reassuring to be in their presence.
What are you working on now? What’s next?
I am always writing, but what I am most focused on right now is revising and putting the final touches on my first full poetry collection, which will be published in 2026 by Empty Bowl Press.
Our thanks to Mistee for taking the time to answer a few questions and share these poems. Read “A Letter Never Sent,” “Who Knows a Person’s Capacity for Love,” “The House Your Father Built,” and “College Road Trip” here.
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Mistee St. Clair has received a Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Award and an Alaska Arts and Literary Award, and has poems in The Alaska Quarterly Review, The Common, Northwest Review, SWWIM Every Day, and more. She lives in a northern rainforest in Lingít Aaní (Juneau, Alaska), where she hikes, writes, wanders amongst the moss, and edits legislation for Alaska State Legislature. She can be found at misteestclair.com.