Poet Jules Jacob is chatting with me today about her new collection, Kingdom of Glass & Seed.
Bio:
Jules Jacob is the author of Kingdom of Glass & Seed (Lily Poetry Review Books 2023), Rappaccini’s Garden, with Sonja Johanson (forthcoming White Stag Publishing Summer 2024), and The Glass Sponge, a semi-finalist in The New Women’s Voices Series (Finishing Line Press 2013). Her poems are featured or forthcoming in Plume, Rust + Moth, Lily Poetry Review, Rappahannock Review, and elsewhere. Jules is an Emeritus Master Gardener, recipient of a fellowship from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Auvillar, France, and former Court Appointed Special Advocate for the Thirty-first Circuit Court of Missouri.
Welcome, Jules. What do you enjoy most about writing poems?
I enjoy the writing process, including free writes, prompts, revising, writing groups, classes and workshops but it’s joyous when words and images unexpectedly gel into a great line.
Can you give us a little insight into a few of your poems – perhaps a couple of your favorites?
“My Mother Eats Wyoming,” published in “Plume Poetry 8,” is based on a few facts about my mom when she was growing up in Gillette, Wyoming. It’s a contemporary sonnet and like most of my poems, it includes themes of nature, family, loss, and the creative/destructive duality inherent in humans and nature. Another example with these overlapping themes is “Letter From My Older Brother,” published in Rust + Moth: https://rustandmoth.com/work/letter-from-my-older-brother/
“Strychnine Tree,” published in Plume and included in my forthcoming collaborative book of poisonous plant poems, “Rappaccini’s Garden,” can be found here: https://plumepoetry.com/strychnine-tree/
What form are you inspired to write in the most?
I’ve been drawn to writing American sonnets since reading American Sonnets for my Past and Future Assassin by Terrance Hayes. Why? I enjoy playing with form and American sonnets subvert traditional sonnets. Without rhyme schemes, I can innovate and add unique musicality if I desire. Without being tied to traditional themes such as romantic love, I can address a wider range of themes and topics within fourteen lines. I can write a sonnet titled, “How to Locate a Homeless Daughter,” and compare myself to a lowly black bug.
What type of project are you working on next?
I’ve started working on my fourth collection with poems that speak to familial, historical, and ecological losses including the disappearance of the night sky and a vast number of flora and fauna.
When did you first consider yourself a writer / poet?
When I was twenty-four, ByLine Magazine paid me $5.00 for an Ars poetica poem about fictional plot structure. My third poem was published in Canada shortly thereafter. I considered myself a writer at the time but not a poet. I had poetry, short fiction, and creative non-fiction pieces published occasionally for two decades but had no concept of fallow periods. Another decade and a commitment to poetry had to pass, plus a poetry chapbook publication, before I called myself a poet.
How do you research markets for your work, perhaps as some advice for not-yet-published poets?
I look at my favorite print and online journals and read the poets’ biographies to see where else they’ve subbed and been published. I do the same with my favorite poets by checking out their websites. Duotrope online is a great resource for markets although there is a yearly fee.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I hesitate to mention this as it’s not in a writer’s best interest. Occasionally when a poem catches me off-guard while I’m driving, I rest a small notepad on the steering wheel and write. (I keep the notepad in my purse.) This usually occurs during long drives on a highway. There’s something about the white noise of the tires against the asphalt.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a detective.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
Don’t write and drive, Poets!