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Paulann Petersen

 

Oregon’s sixth Poet Laureate, Paulann Petersen, has six full-length books of poetry, most recently Understory from Lost Horse Press. She was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and received the 2006 Holbrook Award from Oregon Literary Arts. She serves on the board of Friends of William Stafford, organizing the January Stafford Birthday Events.

What’s your creative process? Are you in a writing group?

I don’t have a set practice for writing. Any time of the day is a good time when I’m writing. I crave long stretches of open time when I can immerse myself in writing and—after laying down a mile or two of ink—emerge hours later.

I work alone, but am grateful to friends in my writing groups who give me invaluable feedback on poems in progress.

What are you reading right now?

The current issue of The New Yorker (I’ve been reading TNY for decades). Right now, I’m reading Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space. It’s fabulous. I’m enthralled.

What are some of your favorite books of all time?

Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass
Roberto Calasso’s The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony
Anne Carson’s Eros, the Bitterweet