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STEPHANIE M. WYTOVICH ON POETRY IN THE DARK

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by Angela Yuriko Smith

Today I’d like to welcome Stephanie M. Wytovich to the HWA Poetry Blog with an interview about her own work and Writing Poetry in the Dark, just released from Raw Dog Screaming Press. Writing Poetry in the Dark “brings together some of the most successful contemporary genre poets to discuss topics related to creating dark and fantastical poetry.” Compiled specifically for and about speculative poetry, some of the best poets join forces to offer advice and insight in this guide. It’s a pleasure to share this interview from one of the most respected names in dark poetry.

Stephanie M. Wytovich

AYS: Stephanie, thank you so much for taking the time to satisfy our curiosities. When when did you realize you were a poet and what was that experience like?

SMW: I remember reading Shel Silverstein as a kid and loving the sing-song rhyme scheme that bounced me along in the text. Couple that with what Alvin Schwartz did in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and well needless to say, it all made quite an impression on me. I started writing couplets and rhymes with my dad as a kid, and then in middle school when I discovered Poe, I started branching out some more; my poems got longer, more dramatic, a tad aggressive. My therapist at the time encouraged this and I began to dissect my identity and my trauma quite early on as a result. By high school, I was taking it more seriously and I began working with free verse and reading more diversly to learn about the craft. I discovered Plath, Dickinson and Sexton, all of whom had a huge influence on my work and my tastes. I think to some degree, I always knew my poetry was going to be dark, likely make people uncomfortable, and explore this type of violent, feminine experience that bordered the psychological and the body, and when I started publishing my sophomore year in college, no one was really surprised by the subject matter.

If I had to describe the experience, I would say that poetry has always felt like coming home. It’s been my safe place for as long as I can remember and it’s a place I love to go to meditate, to perform, to relax, and to work out conflicts and scream and protest and find comfort in the uneasy. Poetry has led me to understand myself in ways that nothing else has. Where did the idea for Writing Poetry in the Dark originate? I had the idea for it a few years ago when I was mentoring a lot of poetry clients via Crystal Lake Publishing. I had a lot of writers ask me for craft book recommendations, and while there are a ton of wonderful guidebooks for poetry and on craft, there weren’t any that really led themselves to writing speculative poetry. Raw Dog and I started chatting about it more after Tim Waggoner’s success with Writing in the Dark, and then all of us got in conversation about this book being under that umbrella.

Soon after, Writing Poetry in the Dark became a reality and I’m so honored to be able to provide this resource to poets working in and with the speculative.

AYS: Writing in the Dark sounds like a needed resource. What kind of material can we expect to help out speculative poets?

SMW: So much! I wanted to curate a book that spoke both to genre and to form, so there are pieces in there about POV, structure, gender, and worldbuilding, but then there are also essays that touch on topics like incorporating the mystical in your work, subverting the fairytale, and writing the other. There are more personal approaches as well such as working with your dreams, writing from the wound, and how we as poets tackle violence in our work, so I think there is a nice range for people to work with and explore, and I specifically chose each poet in this book for their familiarity with the topic they wrote about so everyone is learning from writers highly skilled and knowledgeable in that specific area.

AYS: Now, back to you. What kind of poetry do you enjoy reading? What types do you write?

SMW: Lately, I’ve really been enjoying surrealist and experimental poetry, but I read pretty much everything because I think there is value is being familiar with all types, formats, and styles of poetry: free verse, sonnets, formalist, memoir, haiku, you name it. It’s all fun to me. Having said that, for me, I’m strictly a free-verse poet (although I did recently write a sonnet for an anthology project, so that was a chaotic choice for me, ha!).

AYS: Anyone reading this is most likely a fan of poetry. If not, I hope they are now. Why do you think poetry is such a powerful means of expression?

SMW: Like all writing, there are rules, but at the same time, those rules are meant to be broken, so it’s really this kind of unholy playground that you have to learn to navigate yourself and make work for you. And that’s why I like poetry. I like proving that poetry doesn’t have to be this one specific thing. It’s not just for people with MFAs and PhDs, and you don’t have to be well read in Blake, Whitman, and Shelley in order to understand it. In fact, I think Mona Awad’s novel Bunny does a great job at showcasing the vibe I think poetry usually gets from people.

My goal has always been to support and champion that type of poetry (because I do love it and it’s how I became familiar with the craft) but to also challenge that and rework it and disrupt it, too, because poetry can be so many things. It can be performance art, a diary, visual art, and prose. It can be anything and everything and it gives us so much room to express ourselves and explore and I think that’s why a lot of us are drawn to it as kids because we haven’t had all the rules and fear and imposter syndrome beaten into us yet. We’re still wide-eyed and excited and that’s powerful and I want to work hard to encourage that type of wonder and excitement with expression again. After all, writing poetry is fun. Embrace that. Run with that. Let it take you places you didn’t think it could. In a way, poetry is its own type of magic.

AYS: Here’s the real burning  question I have now: where can we find Writing Poetry in the Dark and any related events?

SMW: Writing Poetry in the Dark can be found anywhere books are sold, but buying from the publisher is always preferred, so if you can, head over to Raw Dog Screaming Press and pick up a copy directly from them. Any updates on related events can be found on my social media pages (@swytovich) and will be announced via RDSP. One thing I can say is that I’m hosting a series of roundtable interviews with the contributors on my blog throughout the month and early into November, so definitely keep your eyes open for that.

AYS: This is a great accomplishment but I don’t think you will be sitting still long. What are you working on right now and where can we find you?

SMW: I’m brainstorming and working on a few ideas right now, and while I can’t formally announce details yet, you can expect to see another poetry collection from me in 2023. Readers and writers alike can keep up with me on social media (@swytovich and @thehauntedbookshelf), read my columns via LitReactor, and check out my blog at stephaniewytovich.blogspot.com where I post interviews, book reviews, and monthly writerly updates.

About the Book:
Purchase link at Raw Dog Screaming Press 

Writing Poetry in the Dark brings together some of the most successful contemporary genre poets to discuss topics related to creating dark and fantastical poetry. While there are countless books available for the aspiring poet, there is a lack of resources specifically for and on speculative poetry, and with the market thriving, publishers who previously did not put out poetry are now adding it to their catalogs, requesting it for their anthologies, and seeking it for their magazines. Given these factors, it seemed like the perfect time to put together a guide for dark poets that addresses
some of the unique challenges they face, such as creating monsters out of white space, writing the hybrid poem, or subverting folklore in the retelling of a classic tale.

Included in Writing Poetry in the Dark are recommendations on how to bring fear to the page, write from the wound, let violence loose, channel the weird, and tackle the dark side of daily life. There are also practical suggestions for exploring different poetic forms and topics ranging from building worlds, writing from different points of view, and exploring gender and sexuality on the page. This book will bring something different to every speculative writer who is interested in exploring poetry with a genre twist, and it is our hope that this book will help poetry itself continue to evolve, grow, and redefine itself in the market for many years to come.

Author Bio:
Stephanie M. Wytovich is an American poet, novelist, and essayist. Her work has been showcased in numerous magazines and anthologies such as Weird Tales, Nightmare Magazine, Southwest Review, Year’s Best Hardcore Horror: Volume 2, The Best Horror of the Year: Volume 8, as well as many others. Wytovich is the Poetry Editor for Raw Dog Screaming Press, and an adjunct at Western Connecticut State University, Southern New Hampshire University, and Point Park University. She is a recipient of the Elizabeth Matchett Stover Memorial Award, the 2021 Ladies of Horror Fiction Writers Grant, and has received the Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship for non-fiction writing.

Wytovich 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 Bram Stoker Award-winning poetry collection, Brothel, earned a home with Raw Dog Screaming Press alongside Hysteria: A Collection of Madness, Mourning Jewelry, An Exorcism of Angels, Sheet Music to My Acoustic Nightmare, and most recently, The Apocalyptic Mannequin. Her debut novel, The Eighth, is published with Dark Regions Press.

Follow Wytovich at stephaniewytovich.blogspot.com and on Twitter and Instagram @SWytovich​ and @thehauntedbookshelf. You can also find her essays, nonfiction, and class offerings on LitReactor.

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