After being interviewed by our sister witch Trish Hopkinson for Volumes 2 and 3, we were so excited to flip the script and get her to answer some of our questions! Trish is an invaluable resource for writers in any stage of their careers, and her website, Twitter, and Facebook page regularly features promotions for upcoming submission deadlines, tips for writers on getting their work published, writing prompts, and event listings. She is also an accomplished poet with five chapbooks and endless journal publications. Read our interview below, where Trish talks to OyeDrum about feminism, community, and her first full-length poetry collection.
1. How does womanhood and feminism influence the poetry you write and where you find your inspiration?
This is such a meaningful question! Feminism finds its way into everything I write and how I communicate in general. There’s still so much work to do in equality and lifting voices. I find much of my inspiration by reading the poetry of many women identifying poets as well as those in the POC and LGBTQ+ communities. I’m also a big supporter of my local poetry community here in Utah. We have a lot of amazing women and other writers doing some incredible work creatively and within the literary community.
2. What are you working on now/what can we look forward to reading from you in the near future?
I’ve just finished the final edits on my first full-length manuscript of poems and started sending it out to contests. It’s definitely a feminist work, entitled
A Godless Ascends, with each of the four sections prefaced with what I’ve called my “she-god” poems. The first poem, actually titled “she-god” was recently published in
Rise Up Review (
https://riseupreview.org/trish-hopkinson). The collection includes coming-of-age topics, coming to terms with womanhood, and a section each dedicated to poems for and about my children. Additionally, my poem “all words for a woman” is forthcoming in
They Call Us for their “They Call Us Bossy” themed issue (
https://www.theycallus.com/zine).
3. In addition to writing your own poetry, you are a huge resource to others looking to publish their own poems. What made you want to start helping the poetry community?
When I finished my bachelors in creative writing end of 2013, I started really working on craft and looking for ways to get my poems published. In doing so, I realized there weren’t many resources specific to poetry submissions and as I posted them on my own blog to keep track of them, then started posting on social media, poets seemed to really appreciate the information. I’m looking for it anyway, and often just use my own resources and research when submitting. At the time I had no idea what it would turn into, and 6 years later, I’ve met some kind and wonderfully bright people, learned so much, and couldn’t be more grateful for all of it.
4. What is your advice to poets looking to expand their visibility and publish more work?
Find a way to support the community you want to be a part of, whether a little or a lot, it makes a big difference and helps build your network. Tweet and share your favorite poems by living poets, work seriously on your craft by taking workshops and revising, attend virtual readings and open mics. There are nearly unlimited free and low cost ways to continue learning, expand your writing practice and skills, meet other poets and writers, and have fun while you do it!
Trish Hopkinson is a poet, blogger, and advocate for the literary arts. You can find her online at SelfishPoet.com and provisionally in Utah, where she runs the regional poetry group Rock Canyon Poets and folds poems to fill Poemball machines for Provo Poetry. Her poetry has been published in several lit mags and journals, including Tinderbox, Glass Poetry Press, and The Penn Review; her third chapbook Footnote was published by Lithic Press in 2017, and her most recent e-chapbook Almost Famous was published by Yavanika Press in 2019.
Hopkinson will happily answer to labels such as atheist, feminist, and empty nester; and enjoys traveling, live music, and craft beer.
