A Sketch of a Communally Committed Poet—An Interview with Grace Ocasio

A Sketch of a Communally Committed Poet—An Interview with Grace Ocasio

In my interview with her, Grace Ocasio reveals that the obligation of the writer is to take personal and active responsibility for his/her words. The general concerns in her reviews is to present to the reader the overriding theme of the journal or book and the esthetic values that are different from her own.Grace Ocasio enjoys reading at venues where she can serve the local community. Compared with Archibald MacLeish, Grace Ocasio admits MacLeish uses images as units whereas she uses individual words as units for meaning. She admires the various poets who have distinctive voices. Devoted to literary art so much, she decided in 2008 to stop teaching all together in order to pursue writing full-time.

Grace Ocasio images as units writing full-time

Author: Wang Zuyou,

is from School of Foreign Languages, Henan Polytechnic University, specializing in American literature and western critical theories.

A Brief Introduction to Grace Ocasio:

Grace C. Ocasio won the honorable mention prize in the 2012 James Applewhite Poetry Prize competition.She won the Sonia Sanchez and Amiri Baraka Prize in Poetry in 2011.She was a fi nalist for the Rash Award in Poetry in 2010.Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in

Rattle

,

Earth's Daughters

,

Haight Ashbury Literary Journal

,

Court Green,

and

theNorth Carolina Literary Review.

Her most recent personal essay is soon to appear in the anthology,

More of Life's Spices:Seasoned Sistahs Keepin'it Real.

Her chapbook,

Hollerin from This Shack

, was published by Ahadada Books in 2009.She is a Soul Mountain Retreat fellow, Frost Place alumna, and scholarship recipient to the 2011 Napa Valley Writers' Conference. She received her MFA in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College, her MA in English from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Interview Time:

May 12, 2013.

Interview Place:

South Carolina, Virginia, Carolina.

Wang Zuyou:

Dear Grace Ocasio, Hi! I am very grateful to you for granting me this opportunity! On the website I found the following review on your poems: "The poems in Grace Ocasio's chapbook

Hollerin from This Shack

(2000) call us, challenge us to assess our lives. Her speaker trains her eye on urban and suburban landscapes. In many of the poems, she urges us to observe our daily rites: how we behave at the grocery store or mall, how we treat the opposite sex, and how we view our position to nature. We see ourselves in these poems and we cringe: few heroes exist, and the ones who do exist—real-life fi gures like Dr. King and Mother Hale—appear because of their referential or historical import. If we are disturbed by these poems we should be. Ocasio's vision is troubling, to say the least." How do you respond to it?

Grace Ocasio:

The description on the back cover of my poetry chapbook is a means of preparing the reader for the contents of my book. I think a description helps the average reader to decide whether he or she wants to read a given book, especially a book of poetry.So I believe the poet is obligated or responsible for letting the reader know what he or she is getting into with a certain volume of poetry.I feel that the description functions almost like a warning--reader beware. To quote Denise Levertov from her section titled the same as her book,

The Poet in the World

, in which she discusses the notion of political poetry (Although I don't write political poetry in general, I think what she says gets at the heart of how my description works.) , "The obligation of the writer is:

to take personal and active responsibility for his words, whatever they are, and to acknowledge their potential in fl uence on the lives of others.

"To add my own insight as a follow up to Levertov's quote, I believe that good art should impact the reader in a positive way.Good art (good writing) should cause the average reader to question any complacency in his or her life. Good writing should compel the reader to ask the deeper questions of life: Why am I here? How can I better serve others? When, at all, have I failed others? I do believe in demonstrating good will toward others, and I hope that in my own small way that my writing conveys the idea of good will, that my writing illustrates/upholds the notion or ideal of being my brother's keeper. In other words, I cannot live in this world as though I am not part of a greater community whether that community consists of the neighborhood I live in or the world at large.

Wang Zuyou:

Your reviews have appeared on the online website,

The Review Review

. What are your general concerns in your reviews?

Grace Ocasio:

When I write a review of a particular journal, or a book, for that matter, I strive to present to the reader what I view as the overriding theme of the journal or book. I want the reader to walk away feeling that he or she comprehends what the journal or book is about. I try not to let my individual literary preferences blind me from praising a poem or short story that lends itself to aesthetic values that are different from my own. In other words, as I see it, there is beauty in the world, and beauty comes—pardon my cliché—in different shapes and sizes. At the same time, I feel comfortable making artistic judgments if I see an element or two within a literary work that I feel is overused. So as a reviewer, I try to strike a healthy balance between not being overly critically (not seeing anything positive about a piece of writing) and being noncommittal (not really expressing a definitive opinion about a piece of writing).I never want to come across as narrowminded to the extent that I would restrict myself to only acknowledging and extolling a certain type of writing (praising only formal poetry, for instance).

Wang Zuyou:

Why do you enjoy reading at venues where she can serve the local community?

Grace Ocasio:

I think it's important to reach people where they are, so if that means reading at a nursing home, a local branch of the YWCA, or a localprison facility, then you go.I think poetry should be accessible, so that means taking it out of the academy and putting it in places where everyday people are.Fortunately, we live in a time when many contemporary poets are willing to read their poetry at various venues, not just traditional ones like universities, libraries, and museums.I should also say that I don't want to exclude anybody who is a potential audience member at a venue where I might choose to read. My dream is to have barbers, beauticians, florists, ballet dancers, dentists, and others to attend my readings.I think the average person doesn't necessarily have access to poetry unless he or she attends a college-level literature course. And I think this is a shame.I also like connecting with people who aren't in my fi eld. If my words can speak to someone who is a bank teller or grocery store clerk, then my ability to reach such an individual leads me to feel that I am expressing ideas about the human condition in an effective way.

Wang Zuyou:

When I read your poem "Ars Poetica", I was reminded of Archibald MacLeish's poem of the same title. What is the difference btween your "Ars Poetica" and Archibald MacLeish's ?

Grace Ocasio:

Well, Mr. MacLeish's poem has been classified as imagistic.I'm not striving in any way to incorporate any elements of imagism into my own poem.For me, MacLeish's poem is a series of suggestions via images as to what good poetry should consist of.The reader is left with these impressions, and it's up to the reader to make meaning of them.Of course, critics have pointed to how paradoxical the last two lines of MacLeish's poem are.To a certain extent, I subscribe to the message imparted from the last two lines.Yet, a poem cannot just"be" as the reader is there to impose or project his or her own value judgments onto the poem.What I'm advocating for in my own poem is for quality—what the highest degree of something should be. In my own way I'm saying it's all right to be high brow.And I'm trying to use words, as best as I can, to get at that reality. So I think MacLeish is using images as units whereas I am using individual words as units for meaning.

Wang Zuyou:

Who are the poets or writers that you admire? Why?

Grace Ocasio:

Wow, that is some question! I like and admire so many different poets because I don't identify with any one particular poetry camp. In other words, I like some New York School poets right alongside some confessional poets. For instance, I love some of Alice Notley's work (although her work defies aesthetic categorization) as well as some of Sylivia Plath's.I like other poets like Sonia Sanchez, Yusef Komunyakaa, Rita Dove, Lenard D. Moore, Lola Haskins, and Diane Wakoski.This list is by no means exhaustive, but it does give you an idea of how eclectic my poetic tastes run.All these various poets I have named have distinctive voices. I like what they are saying and how they are saying what they are saying in their poems.I also like writers who fall under the category of spoken word artists. Gil Scott-Heron was one such person. I admire and respect his work. When I was in high school, I bought just about every album he came out with. I would say I was more politically motivated back when I was in high school. Mr. Scott-Heron was deeply appealing to me because he broached subjects like the hazards of nuclear power plants and drug abuse in his songs. I also admire classical poets like George Herbert, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, and Gerard Manley Hopkins. I like the latter poets because of the musicality of their language and the technical skill they employed in their poetry.

Wang Zuyou:

I know you are a poet. But you are also a performer. What kind of performer?

Grace Ocasio:

I am a performer in that I incorporate into my poetry readings other artistic components. For example, I might decide weave some dance steps orbrief singing or humming into a routine. I see reciting a poem as an avenue for drawing upon other art forms (drama, music, and dance). Some people would classify me as a performance poet although I don't see myself that way. Performance poets to me veer more towards rap in their speech patterns. I would say my presentations are primarily theatrically based. Some people have actually come up to me after a reading and asked me if I am an actress. I always respond no. I have never taken any acting classes in my life. But I must admit that I have studied the fi lms of people like Greta Garbo, Judy Garland, Cicely Tyson, and Barbra Streisand and have internalized their mannerisms.I have looked to them as examples of what can be done in terms of artistic interpretation and expression. I would say they have fueled my path as a performer.

Wang Zuyou:

You used to be a teacher, usedn't you? Why did you give up your job as a teacher in college and university?

Grace Ocasio:

I found that teaching composition fulltime didn't allow me time to write. By the time I left teaching full-time, I was sometimes grading papers in the wee hours of the morning.I found myself nodding off at traffic lights on my way home from teaching. So I decided there had to be a better way for me, that I should attempt to make it as a writer. In 2003, I resigned from teaching full-time and began teaching part-time. Doing so enabled me to produce more, yes. But then I decided in 2008 to stop teaching all together in order to pursue writing full-time. I don't have any regrets.

Wang Zuyou:

It is almost unimaginable to pursue writing full-time as a job in China, how is it in the U.S.?

Grace Ocasio:

There are wonderful opportunities for writers to seek full-time employment as creative writing professors here in the U.S.Most start out as adjunct professors or lecturers and are promoted, moving up the ranks until they become associate professors and so forth.The possibilities are endless as far as teaching writing and still being able to pursue one's art as a writer is concerned.There are jobs not only at the university level but at the grade school and high school levels as well.It all depends on what an individual writer's goals are in the teaching profession.

【Works Cited】

Ocasio, Grace. Hollerin from This Shack. Ahadad Books, 2009.

Ocasio, Grace. The Speed of Our Lives, BlazeVOX Books, 2014.

王祖友

（效力于社區的詩人之素描——格蕾絲·奧卡西奧訪談錄）

采訪中，格蕾絲·奧卡西奧透露，積極主動地對其言辭擔當責任是作家的義務。她的書評一般關注的是向讀者展示雜志或書籍的壓倒一切的主題和不同于她本人持有的審美觀。格蕾絲·奧卡西奧喜歡在各種場所閱讀，因為這樣她就能服務于周邊社會。與阿奇博爾德·麥克利什相比，格蕾絲·奧卡西奧承認，在傳達意思方面，麥克利什以意象為單位而她則以單詞為單位。她崇拜著許許多多各具特色的詩人。她如此忠誠于文學藝術，以致為求全職而寫作，她與2008年決定完全終止教學。

格蕾絲·奧卡西奧 意象為單位 全職寫作

王祖友，河南理工大學外國語學院，主要研究領域為美國文學和西方文論。