I had decided to retire the literary Would You Rather series, but didn't want to stop interviews on the site all together. Instead, I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to...
I had decided to retire the literary Would You Rather series, but didn't want to stop interviews on the site all together. Instead, I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us!
Today we are joined by Lynne Jensen Lampe. Lynne’s debut collection, Talk Smack to a Hurricane (Ice Floe Press, 2022) concerns mother-daughter relationships, mental illness, and antisemitism. Her poems appear in many journals, including THRUSH, Figure 1, and Yemassee. A finalist for the 2020 Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize and Best of the Net nominee, she lives with her husband and two dogs in mid-Missouri, where she edits academic research. Visit her at https://lynnejensenlampe.com; on Twitter @LJensenLampe; or IG @lynnejensenlampe
What’s something that’s true about you but no one believes?
I’m an introvert. But I love to be hospitable and help people feel comfortable and my day jobs have often been people-oriented: counselor, teacher, receptionist, activist. And sometimes I’m social to avoid a difficult spot of writing!
What’s your kryptonite as a writer?
Perfectionism. It stunts creativity. My paying job is editing, and sometimes I edit my work before or as I’m writing it. Not helpful! I write poetry, and perfectionism can keep me from writing long enough to have something to work with, to find the truth of the poem.
What’s the best money you’ve ever spent as a writer?
Can I list two things? The first is when I took an online class through The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis: “Poems as Paper Airplanes” (taught by Sarah Sadie). It was my first workshop in several decades and instrumental in me truly feeling like a poet. The second was buying Gregory Orr’s craft book “A Primer for Poets and Readers of Poetry.” He talks about order and disorder in poetry, but his words can be applied to other things too. It changed my life and helped me dig deep into my relationship with my mother as I wrote Talk Smack to a Hurricane.
Describe your book in three words.
Honest. Difficult. Imagistic.
If you could spend the day with another author, who would you choose and why?
I picked this question because it’s fun to think about, but it’s also hard to choose! Dorianne Laux, because she’s creative, down to earth, can write poems about anything and likes to play. Also Hannah Grieco, who absolutely intrigues me with her forthright style, broad subject matter, and ability to share the personal without giving herself away.
What are some of your favorite books and/or authors?
The list might change according to the day! Books: 101 Dalmatians. Wildwood, book 1 of the Wildwood Chronicles by Colin Meloy. The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. Blue Yodel by Ansel Elkins. Authors: Joan Aiken. Damon Runyon, partly because my grandpa introduced me to his stories. Also, one of the few albums my family owned was the soundtrack to Guys and Dolls, which was based on his characters.
What are you currently reading?
The Map of Undoing, the debut poetry collection from Alicia Elkort and Murder on Black Swan Lane, the first of a mystery series by Andrea Penrose.
Are you a toilet paper over or under kind of person?
Over. Definitely over.
If you were on death row, what would your last meal be?
My great-grandma’s blintzes. That would be the best last taste no matter how I was dying.
What’s the one thing you wish you knew when you were younger?
That being liked by everyone is impossible. Overrated. Limiting. So is “be like”—as in “I want to be like __________” or “Why can’t you be like __________?” I always wanted to be someone else, more glamorous, thinner, less bookish, less think-y. I wanted to be wanted—desired—and once I started a friendship or sweetheart thing, I didn’t want to leave that person’s sphere. I declined an internship because it meant being away. I wasn’t afraid of missing my friends. I was afraid they’d forget me. This kind of thinking tries to sneak in sometimes even now, but I shut it down.
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In her first collection, Lynne Jensen Lampe uses vivid imagery, startling sonics, and odd juxtapositions to explore a tender and volatile mother-daughter relationship that fed love as well as insecurities. These poems deal intimately and specifically with the impact of a mother’s severe mental illness. Which mother-version should the daughter believe? What happens to anger when no one’s to blame? Does psychiatry allow a woman her power and personhood? More than personal history, Talk Smack to a Hurricane includes details of 1883 asylum records, lobotomies, even 1960s fashion icons. In examining family heritage and the quest for identity, the collection also fights both shame and stigma.
“A work of deep reconciliation formed through deft lyricism and a rigorous poetics of restorative possibilities of profound love.”—Heathen, author of Outskirts
“Talk Smack to a Hurricane urgently searches memory…the poems in the book are like spells cast against ghosts.”—Ed Skoog, author of Travelers Leaving for the City
Buy a copy
https://icefloepress.net/talk-smack-to-a-hurricane-lynne-jensen-lampe/
