Patrice M. Wilson on the Seasons That Hold Memory
The author of Seasonals talks about mountains, family grief, O‘ahu, East Coast memory, and finding the shape of a chapbook.
Patrice M. Wilson’s Seasonals, a poetry chapbook in the Prolific Press International Chapbook Series, follows fall, winter, spring, summer, and the return of colder weather. The poems move between East Coast family memory and O‘ahu’s mountains, rain, surf, birds, and city light.
Wilson describes the book’s life as held between two sets of parentheses: the East Coast USA and the island of O‘ahu in Hawai‘i. In that span, seasons become more than calendar markers. They hold grief, family ritual, ordinary weather, music, and the continued return of early memories.
Prolific PressSeasonals moves through fall, winter, spring, summer, and back toward colder weather, but it also moves between East Coast family memory and O‘ahu’s mountains, surf, rain, and birds. How did the chapbook first begin for you, and when did you understand that seasons would be the way to hold these places and times together?
Very simply, as I read through a selection of unpublished poems to use for a chapbook, the list was narrowed down to the ones that are in the final manuscript. There were others, but they seemed not to fit in. At that point I noticed one of the seasons appeared in each. I looked for other poems that might involve a season, and I found the ones that were published already (I don’t differentiate between published and unpublished in my computer. They’re just all there.)
Prolific PressIn “Hawaiian Mountains,” the mountains are “good friends,” “oracles,” and finally “holy ones.” What drew you to address the mountains so directly, and how does that opening poem prepare the reader for the kind of attention the book asks for?
I have felt very close to the mountains here. They predominate the scenery and are truly awesome. I tend to love them more than I love the ocean, because they seem protective. I have also loved the Watchungs in NJ, the Adirondacks in NY, and the Blue Ridge in NC. They evoke a sense of continuity in time and in the places where they are. That’s a major theme of the book. Native peoples’ perceptions of them are similar.
Prolific Press“North Shore Oahu” holds both the thrill of winter swells and the speaker’s knowledge that the sea will not really know us, even when we give it “salt from swollen / eyes.” How did you work with that balance between beauty, danger, and human smallness in the poem?
Simply, I always have my “feelers” out for beauty, danger, and human smallness. I love the way you name these 3 of my thematic preoccupations, just like that!
Prolific PressIn “Listening to Brahms One, Four Months after Dad’s Death,” music opens a door into backyard trees, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas ritual, grief, and a fierce wish to keep earthly bonds “un-severed.” How did Brahms become the vessel for that particular remembering?
I have a very clear and precious memory of a Thanksgiving after-dinner “concert” in my home in Roselle, NJ when I was a girl. Dad had a hi-fi and then a stereo sound system in the living room. We’d all go in there for the concert, and that year it was Brahms 1, during which my Dad fell asleep in his easy chair. He dressed as described in the poem. We all dressed formally on the “Big Days.”
Prolific PressSeveral poems make compressed seasonal moments—“Spring in the City” in three lines, “Japanese Lanterns” in five, and the sectioned “Seasonals, Continuing”—while others unfold in longer meditative stanzas. How do you decide when a poem wants brevity and when it needs room to travel?
For those poems, I set out to write haiku and tanka, and the subjects and contexts came as I wrote them. They are “capture a moment” poems, while longer ones are more reflective and detail oriented.
Prolific PressThe book often turns from close description into reflection: a fawn becomes a prayer, motorcycle thunder becomes a question about displaced stars, and a willow’s wind becomes a voice “unsure of the logic of endings.” What usually tells you that an image is ready to make that turn?
These occur after the mid-point in a poem, some, more toward the end. They are ways to begin to “wrap up” a poem with a unifying image or reference that hopefully alludes to a human experience. I meant the displaced stars to symbolize the plight of many war veterans. That poem is my heartfelt homage to them. (I like to think that most of my poems are heartfelt.)
Prolific PressThe ordering of Seasonals creates a kind of spiral, returning at the end to small signs—bunnies, hummingbirds, maple leaves, a lamp and book—before the final waiting for “your loving eyes.” What changed as you arranged the poems, and were there pieces or transitions you had to cut or move to make the spiral work?
For one thing, I had to write the last poem to end the book, after the rest was put in order. The “larger” poem at the beginning seemed to open up the way to “smaller” poems as I worked with the order. The major organizing principle was the seasons.
Prolific PressYou describe your life as lived between East Coast USA and O‘ahu, with years in Honolulu, then the mountain rain forest and bird reserve at the Carmelite Monastery in Kaneohe, and now Mililani. How have those different homes shaped what you notice first in a place?
My home from ages 3-15 was a charming 3-story with front and back yard, that had green grass, many flowering bushes and plants. My Dad used to drive us into the mountains of NY and to Belmar Beach in summer. Once we camped for a week at the park located at the juncture of NJ, NY, and PA. Nature was very important from the beginning. Honolulu is the most natural city I am aware of, with views of water and mountains even from downtown. The monastery is located in the most beautiful place I have ever lived in or seen, as it is the most densely and intensely surrounded by all the beauties of Nature.
Prolific PressWalking, observing nature, reading, crochet, jewelry-making, music, and charity work all appear in the background of your life, and the poems often feel made from careful acts of attention. What does a writing day or writing season look like for you now?
Since I have been unable to walk very well for the past nearly 7 years, I have not been able to walk through the nearby walking park here in Mililani. I still anticipate doing that, and writing from my observations outside of my home. My writing season is year round, but these years it has consisted of sporadic inspirational moments. Last year from June 21-Oct. 21, I took daily notes from everyday occurrences and events in and from my apartment. It’s been enlightening to go back to them and work the poems out from the notes; I aim to write all by the end of the year and produce a new full-length manuscript, working title: Domestic Miracles.
Prolific PressYou mentioned knowing Glenn Lyvers’s work as an editor and reader, and that Prolific Press has already published a haiku and another poem of yours. What does it mean to bring Seasonals to Prolific Press now, as a chapbook in this series?
I’m thrilled that this chapbook is forthcoming; it is a privilege to have a longer work accepted by Prolific Press. A wider audience at this time is very welcome, and that the series is international fits in with my understanding of literature. It also means that my poetry is being re-recognized at a time when my first 3 chapbooks with another press are now out of print.
I do have rights to reprint them, and to use poems from them in other publications. I recently received reversion of rights to my full-length upon my request, due to some strange dealings with my original publisher and the latest one. Seasonals is, in a way, my current phoenix.
Prolific PressYou have published several earlier books that are now out of print, and Seasonals gathers poems from different moments, places, and publications into a new shape. What would you tell poets who are trying to assemble a chapbook from work that has lived many separate lives?
I have yet to embark on this journey, but I will be researching publishers who publish reprints. I’m thinking of combining my 3 chapbooks together for a new collection (Poems from the Crypt?). As for assembling a chapbook from poems that have lived more than one previous life, I would not do that. I would go for my new collection with poems that have not been published more than once. Plus, I’d keep producing new work!
Prolific PressWhat question do you wish a reader would ask you after finishing Seasonals?
Where can I read more of your poetry?
Seasonals is available from Prolific Press as part of the Prolific Press International Chapbook Series.