In the Spotlight: Crystal Stone
Crystal Stone is the author of four collections of poetry, Knock-Off Monarch (Dawn Valley Press 2018), All the Places I Wish I Died (CLASH 2021), Gym Bras (Really Serious Literature 2021), and Civic Duty (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press 2022). Her work has previously appeared in The Threepenny Review, Salamander, Poetry Daily, and many others.
I had the pleasure of reading her debut collection, Knock Off Monarch, ahead of reading her latest collection All the Places I Wish I Died. It’s a knowing, bittersweet nod to growing up, being female, and finding a place in the world around you.
We chatted about the challenge of putting a body of work together, discovering themes and the lessons learned from publishing her first collection.
Knock-Off Monarch is such an intriguing and unique collection; there’s real depth to your experimentation and exploration of poetic forms. Did you have a process when selecting which poems to include and what influences you when putting together a poetry collection?
Because Knock-Off Monarch was my first collection, I was still learning how to curate a collection. I didn’t write poems with a collection in mind. I just wrote. One day I realised I had written more than 100 poems, so I printed them all out, laid them on the floor, and tried to find patterns. I threw MANY of those original 100 poems out and wrote into some of the collection’s narrative gaps.
I’d say my process has shifted since then. Now I imagine full projects, and I still write individual poems as I’m inspired, but sort and shape them as I go. My newspaper poems go into Extra! Extra! My self-portraits, landscape, and mental illness poems are in All the Places I Wish I Died. My poems about civic duties—jury duty, taxes, quarantining, caucusing, voting, election day—are in Civic Duty. My exercise and booty call poems are in Gym Bras. My family poems go into White Lies. I pay attention to theme and stylistic similarities now as I’m curating a manuscript in ways that I didn’t my first time around.
I loved the intersections between the themes of your coming-of-age sentiments, broader feminist ideas, religion, love and family relationships. There is a robust reflexive quality to some of your work. I’m curious over the timeframe these poems span in your life, and when you started writing poetry?
Good question—the poems in Knock-Off Monarch span five years, so poem-to-poem my life had been really different. I still tried to pair them in a way that showed the various manifestations of imposter syndromes and the way I’ve felt displaced in the world.
I tried to rewrite some familiar narratives—Noah is an addict, Vashti is just trying to protect herself. Zipporah wants Moses to go to her roller derby game—to reflect the experiences I lived. I wanted to create stories/poems that fit me and my world better.
My other forthcoming books—All the Places I Wish I Died, Gym Bras, Civic Duty— were written in a shorter time period so they are more thematically and stylistically unified in the collection.
Some of your work has a very ‘traditional’ or classic formulaic approach to poetry but with an unmistakable modern perspective. Who are some of your biggest influences as a poet?
Oof, that’s also changed so much since publishing my first book!
When writing my first collection, my favourite poets were Adam Zagajewski, Lisel Mueller, more traditional poets. When writing my most recent books, I have influences from writers like Hanif Abdurrarqib-Willis, Kaveh Akbar, Paige Lewis, Diannely Antigua, Mei-mei Bressenbrugge, Nikki Wallschlaeger, Debora Kuan, more experimental writers from different cultural backgrounds.
‘Knock-off monarch’ is taken from one of the poems about the fluidity and falseness of beauty. I read this (and a few other poems) as though you were reconciling something with your younger self, and perhaps all younger female selves. Was this intentional? Do you have a specific audience in mind when writing your poems?
In that poem specifically, I was assuming Tomas Salamun’s voice and mimicking his poem “historical brutality,” but the idea of a “knock-off monarch” is to call out something that is posing, an imposter.
I sort of see myself that way in academia: I was born in a trailer park in South Carolina to two addicts without college degrees. But now, I’m kind of “academic.” I have a BA and an MFA. I feel disconnected from my classmates and after graduating, my family, too. I write about these feelings a little more in-depth in my recent essay, “Everyone Got a Gun For Christmas”.
Can you share a little bit about your journey to publication? What were some of the challenges you faced and any advice for others currently going through the publication journey?
I follow and read poetry books from SO MANY small indie presses that I knew where I wanted to send each of my books based on aesthetic similarities. I think reading a lot makes the publishing process more manageable. But it also helps to set your own goals. I knew I wasn’t trying to get picked up by a big five publishing house that required an agent.
I wanted to publish with the small indie presses I supported. If you’re looking to get picked up by an agent with a huge press, you’ll have to wait longer to get your work in the world, write in a way tailored to a mainstream audience, and expect more rejections. You’ll also likely have to develop a HUGE following before they look at you—very rarely a no-name person, especially a poet, will sign a contract with a huge press. It happens, but rarely.
My advice to others is to read lots and don’t get discouraged if someone doesn’t want your book. Keep editing, and keep submitting.
Finding your press is like dating: there are many you’re incompatible with, but there are probably many others you are compatible with. You just haven’t met them yet!
And the last question! Do you have any advice for budding poets who are seeking the courage to get their work out there?
Fake it until you make it. The worst anyone will say is no.
Crystal Stone is the author of four collections of poetry, Knock-Off Monarch (Dawn Valley Press 2018), All the Places I Wish I Died (CLASH 2021), Gym Bras (Really Serious Literature 2021), and Civic Duty (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press 2022). Her work has previously appeared in The Threepenny Review, Salamander, Poetry Daily, and many others. She gave a TEDx talk on poetry’s transformative power, where she received her MFA in Creative Writing and Environment in May 2020. You can find samples of her work on her website www.crystalbstone.com.
About Elaine Mead
Elaine is a freelance copy and content writer, editor and proofreader, currently based in Hobart Tasmania. Her work has been published internationally in both print and digital publications, including with Darling Magazine, Healthline, Wild Wellbeing, Live Better Magazine, Writer's Edit and others. She is the in-house book reviewer for Aniko Press and a dabbler in writing very short fiction. You can find more of her words at wordswithelaine.com
