Happy Friday, CALYX-ers! We are already on to week two of Voices of CALYX, and today I’m excited to present
Kathleen Kelly’s poem “Free Range,” which was published in Volume 28:1.
A first-generation editor and poet, Kathleen A. Kelly’s poems and essays have been published in North American Review, PoemMemoirStory, Rain Taxi, CALYX, and Nimrod. She completed Ph.D. coursework in literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz where she studied feminist literary theory and creative writing (literary nonfiction and poetry). Her writing has been supported by residency fellowships from The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico (Taos) and the Vermont Studio Center. Married to Iranian Studies historian Afshin Marashi, she divides her time between Norman (OK) and Santa Monica (CA).
What piece/pieces are your working on now? I’m currently working on a book-length poetry manuscript and more specifically, I’m working in various forms such as the triolet, rondeau, and ghazal. I’ve just realized that there seems to be an avian trope occurring in many of my new poems.
Where is your favorite place to write? Sitting on my patio, the midday sun shaded by russet-leafed crepe myrtle trees. Sounds that are muted within the confines of our house–a Saturday noon whistle and the tremble of the BNSF train–are welcome companions.
Who are you currently reading (and/or) which author has inspired your writing the most? I’m currently reading Mary Ruefle’s lecture collection, Madness, Rack, and Honey, as well as Rabih Alameddine’s novel, An Unnecessary Woman. At my Aunt Fran’s encouragement (and insistence), I’ve just plucked Salman Rushie’s Midnight’s Children from our bookshelves (my husband’s dog-eared copy). I read Mrs. Dalloway once a year, always in June.
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