In September, “Stephanie M. Wytovich – Stoker Award-nominated Poet – Poetry Editor for RDSP”

Hysteria: A Collection of Madness by Stephanie Wytovich

Stephanie M. Wytovich is the Poetry Editor for Raw Dog Screaming Press, a book reviewer for Nameless Magazine, and a well-known coffee addict. She is a member of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, an active member of the Horror Writers Association, and a graduate of Seton Hill University’s MFA program for Writing Popular Fiction. Her poetry collections, Hysteria: A Collection of Madness, Mourning Jewelry, and An Exorcism of Angels are all Bram Stoker Award-nominated, and her debut novel, The Eighth, will be out in 2015 from Dark Regions Press.

Continuing the HWA Poetry Page exploration of the current state of the poetry genre in publishing, Stephanie graciously agreed to an interview.

HWA: Where do you see the state of poetry in the horror genre today? Where do you see it going in the future?

SW: I think poetry is beginning to resurface a little more these days, particularly in the horror genre, and that is certainly a refreshing breath of air. The more anthologies that I research and submit to—both for myself and for my students and clients—the more I see guidelines that are accepting of poetry in addition to fiction, and that’s something that I’ve found to be relatively new. I think readers and editors alike are redeveloping a taste and appreciation for the art form that has previously been put aside, but with the rise of flash fiction and prose poetry, I think we’re all seeing a definite increase in what poetry can do.

Personally, I see poetry markets growing, but maybe not in the traditional sense that we’re all used to. There’s an interesting blend of flash fiction and poetry happening right now that is changing both our genre as horror poets, but is also shifting and reshaping the literary scene as well. I think poetry is going to give a lot writers a great sense of flexibility and creativity, and that the essence of format and line as we know it, is going to transform and transcend from the lyric perspective to something more fractal and experimental. I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens and how writers react and respond to it.

HWA: As an Editor, what are you looking for?

SW: As the Poetry Editor for Raw Dog Screaming Press, I’m looking for poetry that evokes a reaction. I don’t lean one way or the other in my taste for poetry in regards to form or style, so whether it’s satire, confessional, experimental, dark, etc., as long as it’s written well and hits readers with an emotional impact, I’m excited and pleased to read it.

Having said that, we are a press that caters to the dark and unusual, the fantastical and the otherworldly. I like manuscripts that can reverse clichés, that dig up dark secrets, that reveal what’s beneath the mask that society has been wearing for too long. Show me what’s hiding underneath the phantom’s mask, what’s lurking in Victor Frankenstein’s basement. I want to see the monsters, I want to see the blood, but I’m more interested in their creation and reaction to life, rather than the massacre that brought them to existence.

HWA: As a poet, would you feel like sharing a poem or two? What are you working on now?

SW: Right now, I’m working on my submission for Gothic Blue Book as I’ve been fortunate enough to be named the Guest Poet for their next volume. Those pieces are a collection of gothic-themed verses that touch on the sublime premise of death and love, which are two topics that I’m fairly comfortable with and excited to tackle.

In regards to my next collection, I’m working on something a little different because I think I’m ready to start pushing some boundaries that I wasn’t previously comfortable doing. My next collection is a surrealist and bizarre take on a girl who walks around with her head in the clouds. I like to think of it along the lines of Alice in Wonderland meets Sylvia Plath meets Frida Kahlo. Very strong feminist pieces but wrapped in a dark, bizarre nightmare while hung upside down to bleed out.

Needless to say, it’s been a wild ride so far. Here’s an example of it:

“The Tornado Maker”

Heaven coughed and
there were angels in its throat—
winged beasts who wore lightning
like electric sweaters
burning everything
and everyone
while I sewed a new world
out of madness,
fashioning tornadoes out of saints
each time one died.

HWA: How vital do you find organizations like HWA to horror poetry? Is there anything you’d like to see HWA do to promote horror poetry?

SW: I think organizations like the HWA are extremely important to the continuation and promotion of horror poetry, because the organization not only acts as a teaching platform for writers, both amateur and professional alike, but it also serves as a basis for a poetic community where writers can come together to share, discuss, and appreciate the art form on a variety of levels whether were reading it, writing it, or publishing it.

For more on Raw Dog Screaming Press: www.rawdogscreaming.com

Follow Stephanie Wytovich at stephaniewytovich.blogspot.com and on twitter @JustAfterSunset.
Website: http://stephaniewytovich.blogspot.com/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Stephanie-M.-Wytovich

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