Editor Profile: Ivy Schweitzer

1. Who are you reading right now?

I am reading Vievee Francis’ new book of poetry, Forest Primeval, because she is coming to teach at Dartmouth (lucky us), Laura Foley’s Night Ringing, and Frances Fogelin’s Once It Stops, as a result of their recent, terrific poetry reading at the Norwich Bookstore. I also just bought Rumi: The Book of Love edited by Coleman Barks, which I am eager to dive into.

2. Do you write on paper or use your computer to generate a first draft?

I write almost completely on my computer, even for first drafts. I sometime jot down notes on scraps, but then I cannot read them! I also jot down ideas on my macbook air, which has become almost an extension of my brain and hand. I love the ease of cutting and pasting; typing is like playing a musical instrument with keys.

3. What books/authors do you keep coming back to?

I always seem to come back to Whitman and Dickinson (with a dose of Emerson’s formidable essay “The Poet,”) but that might be because I teach them frequently and my next big project will be blogging a poem by Dickinson everyday for the year 1862 (when she wrote, according to some estimates, 364 poems!). I also bought A Year with Rumi: Daily Readings, to read along with the gal from Amherst. But I also have more contemporary touchstones: Marilyn Hacker’s Love, Death and the Changing of the Seasons, when I want to immerse myself in the sonnet form and raging love of women, any of Grace Paley’s poetry when I want to give my political and ethical anger form, Lucille Clifton for amazing concision and general wallop, Anne Sexton for pure anguish, Li Young Li for passion and whimsey, among others. 

4. Are you working on a larger project right now?

Yes, I am putting together a manuscript of poetry tentatively entitled Undammed, and I am embarking on research for the Emily Dickinson blog described above. Just won a small grant to begin working on that project this Fall when I will be in residence in London.

5. What inspires you?

Life inspires me. Courage, euphoria, despair and above all connection, the human connection. What we cannot live without Oh, and the changing of the seasons (which Hacker borrowed from Keats, another absolute favorite of mine).