Reader Meet Author: Constance Stadler

Sometimes it is the smallest moments, the tiny cuts, that hurt the most. In life it is those split-second decisions, those opportunities that we don't grab, those words we never manage to say that wind up stinging in the end. In her latest collection Constance Stadler focuses the lens on the microscopic cuts and tears in our armor as we twist and concede our way through life. Paper Cuts was released by Calliope Nerve last month as a free e-book. The release marked the arrival of Calliope's publishing arm, and a honest and sinere defining moment in the career of Constance Stadler.

Recently, Constance was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

Orange Alert (OA): Your new collection, Paper Cuts, is an e-book. Do you feel this format is more freeing? Were you less selective or maybe more inclusive in the editing process?
Constance Stadler (CS): Both have merits. There is nothing that compares with the palpable joy of holding a book, an intimacy is created. An eBook is far less constraining in that you are not limited to 40 pages. Moreover, as a free download, my work has reached many new readers. But, several have asked when the hard copy is coming out. The answer: soon. As for editing, I do not think the medium matters. In Paper Cuts I had an excellent relationship with the publisher, Nobius Black. If a publisher/ \editor does their job and does not take offence at the need for repeated drafts, a fertile creative partnership naturally results.

OA: I love the concept of Paper Cuts, these tiny surface cuts, the little slices we make in order remain relevant, sane, and wanted. What is it you hope readers take away from Paper Cuts?
CS: Actually the concept of Paper Cuts is two fold. You capture the first well. On another level, the cover depicts a poet bleeding near a crumpled paper, what true poetry requires and takes from us -even as it infuses us -is important to note. Respect for this art has declined monumentally in American culture. As for what readers take away, I hope the will hone their prism of multiple realities, that awe is never to be lost as that begins the death process. I want readers to examine their vision and emotional response ` especially when they are seemingly contradictory. To me, this goes to the essence of being human.

OA: There seems to be an ongoing dialog about beauty vs perceived beauty in the collection. Why do you feel there is so much pain associated with beauty?
CS: We would never value beauty, never even recognize it fully if there were not a cost. A flower is a glorious gift, which will die in days. Love is wonderful, most of the time, love does not stay. We cannot be in a state of mind to be ravished by beauty constantly. Human life is riddled with pain, beauty must seen as both antidote, and, in being miraculous, the reason we bear inevitable pain. Yin/Yang, alpha and omega, there is always reward and cost.

OA: Writing is essentially a method to convey a story or a situation, why do you chose poetry over other forms of writing?
CS: I think like a poet. I see a tree and a multitude of metaphors come to life. I can feel prosodic resonance. Poetry is the most demanding of all forms of writing, every comma matters. Prose writing does not keep me en pointe. Poetry is the ultimate distillation of language into something wondrous. I honor this gift. I also feel when images, allegories, metaphors spring to mind, I have the requisite ‘poet’s vision’, to paraphrase Eliot, again, it is a gift to be cherished

OA: You have worked with several smaller presses over the years. Do you feel the quality and care in production has lessened as technology has advanced?
CS: I feel that the opportunity for writers to blossom has been widely enhanced by technology. But in this proliferation of ‘zines, there are many inferior ones. It is not a case of genre specific, you see the editor is not editing, you feel no thematic or even stylistic cohesion. All poets today know where quality resides, but it is a precipitous path for a fledgling writer. Paper journals tend to be more meticulous as a rule, but also some elitism is clearly present. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

OA: What's next for Constance Stadler?
CS: I am very excited. I am in the final stage of editing a full length poetry book Responsorials, which was co written with the amazing Rich Follett. It takes the form of a series of dyads between a man and a woman about the masculine-feminine dynamic in numerous scenarios. It dialogically examines love. One of us wrote a poem and the other wrote a response. Authorial command had to be relinquished or, rather, shared. We are including an mp3 of the book read aloud, and will be doing a number of public readings in theaters, for benefits, in bookstores (it will be marketed through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders and more). All this happens in early fall, a whole new dimension of poetic communication to be discovered.

Bonus Questions:

OA: If you could sit down to coffee with anyone (alive or dead) who would it be?
CS: Duane Locke, who is very much alive and, in the view of many, the greatest living poet extant. With almost 7,000 poems published and 17 books of the highest quality, he never ceases to astound. He has been my mentor for some time now, and I learn more in one e-mail exchange than I did in a number of graduate courses. Duane will be attending a reading of Responsorials, so my wish will actually be fulfilled.

OA: What type of music do you enjoy and who are a few of your favorites?
CS: I was trained as an anthropologist so I am always open to music from different cultures.

Sufi dervish to Tibetan monks to Gaelic delights, I am open to all. I am also a classically trained violinist who was NOT meant to be a musician. But the great concertos Mendelssohn, Bruch, the beauty of an impeccable string quartet or soloist, can bring me to my knees. I am grateful I know how to play so I can immerse myself in the feeling of what it would be like to play like Hillary Hahn and so many other great violin virtuosos.

I would fill this space with names!

For more information of Constance Stadler please visit her website.