As readers, we seldom have the chance to chat with the authors we enjoy and admire, so I’m delighted that Terry Tierney is here to share some thoughts about poetry, writing in general, and of course his wonderful forthcoming collection, Why Trees Stay Outside, which publishes on October 1, 2024 from Unsolicited Press.
Anne: Terry, this is your second collection of poetry. What are the life experiences you feel were central to its development? The things held in the mind and heart when working on these poems?
Terry: These poems were written while I digested news feeds of the pandemic, environmental catastrophes, social justice issues, and political division, which all affect how we interact with our world and with one another. The heavy air seeps into everything I think and do. In some sense I see a collective nostalgia, whether the past was better or not, which parallels my own aging process. My poems tend to reject common responses and dig into fresh observations and imagery as I try to make sense of evolving personal, environmental, and social relationships. The seekers in my poems dig for answers, which might not be positive, but they typically strive for dignity and often lean on humor. Unlike my earlier books that I wrote over several decades, this book reflects its time. Some of the poems examine the past but the inspiration for the poems is contemporary.
Anne: You write both poetry and prose and I’m curious about the headspace you must occupy for each, how they differ, how they’re alike.
Terry: My friends often ask me how I can write both poetry and prose, and I’m not sure I give them consistent answers. When I first encounter an idea, I seldom know if it will germinate into a poem or a story, but I gain clues from how it grows. My poems tend to link image to image and evolve into an epiphany or a general observation. I believe the power and joy of poetry is its ability to project words toward the unsaid, which could be described as a fleeting thought that seems somehow diminished if it’s named. I think of primitive religions whose worshippers avoided saying the name of their god. Prose also includes metaphors just as poems can include narrators and characters, but the focus of prose tends to be character and action. If the arc of a character, for example, requires more than a structure of provocative images, I see an emerging short story. Prose poems and flash fiction are interesting border outposts, and I have written a few short pieces that could fall in either genre. As a reader I find genre becoming less important. Good writing is good writing.
Anne: I’ve read your bio with interest! You have a doctorate in Victorian Literature. What drew you to pursue that, and how do you feel your academic work has influenced your poetry?
Terry: For my BA degree I majored in English with a specialization in Creative Writing, but I wanted to expand my literary background. In short, I fell in love with reading great literature and returned to graduate school to pursue that goal. My exposure to Victorian novelists, such as Dickens, Thackeray, Trollope, and Eliot along with Modern authors such as Faulkner, Hemingway, and Pynchon have influenced my fiction, but my poetry is rooted in the Modern tradition including T. S. Eliot, Stevens, and Williams. War poetry and the Beats also inspire me, particularly Ginsburg and Kerouac. Although I loved reading nineteenth-century fiction during graduate school, my evenings were often spent with poets at readings, workshops, and living rooms. I learned more from my talented fellow students than I did in the classrooms.
Anne: A stand-out poem for me from your collection is “Psychotherapy After Dinner.” Can you talk about the genesis of that particular poem?
Terry: When potential lovers meet, they often engage in a cycle of mutual analysis, though it’s typically not as intense as the moment described in the poem. There is a desire to inquire and reveal one’s inner self to some extent. Who is this person really? I thought it interesting to symbolize those confessions as an anatomical dissection. Also, psychoanalysis tends to be a dissection of sorts. The poem tries to provide insight into the experience along with a shade of humor. When I read this poem publicly, I introduce it as a love poem but warn about the trigger of human dissection. It might be the first dissection-love poem.
Anne: You’ve lived in several different places and spent time overseas in the military. Is there one place that looms large in your psyche?
Terry: During my time in the military, I spent a year on Adak, a desolate Aleutian Island about 1200 miles west of Anchorage. The sense of exile and isolation is something you never forget, despite the captivating natural environment. Although any animals bearing fur had been hunted to extinction, there were salmon, trout, eagles and other abundant wildlife. But the lure of nature wore off after about two weeks. What remained were the friendships with other exiled servicemen and the experience of mutual support. I remain in touch with several of my Adak buddies. Some poems spring from those days along the themes of isolation and the value of friendship, not to mention suspicion and disrespect of authority. My novel Lucky Ride, which features a recent veteran, includes several flashback scenes set on Adak. Other than my friends, I don’t recall my military days fondly, but they are part of my fabric.
Anne: Did being a software engineering manager influence your poetry and if so, how?
Terry: My desired profession had always been journalism and later college teaching, but fate and lack of money dictated another path. Fortunately, I have a knack for technical work. Among my various engineering jobs, I cherish the people I worked with and the times we pulled together to finish a project or solve an intractable problem. Work relationships can be as complex as personal relationships, and they carry similar possibilities for joy or remorse. You often spend more time in the office with your work family than you do at home, especially in Silicon Valley. My poems often explore how people interact and find connections or not, and my work experience plays a part.
Anne: Who are your favorite living poets and why?
Terry: I regularly follow several journals and attend many live events with inspiring poets along with reading amazing new collections, so it’s hard to finger my favorites. Lately I’ve been most taken with Joy Harjo because of her ability to evoke the natural world, feminism, and social justice with the purity of First Nation storytelling. Her poems are both moving and accessible. If Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Michael McClure had not recently passed away, they would be on my list. Such a loss but they left us their words.
Anne: What can readers look forward to seeing from you in the future?
Terry: I have several ongoing projects, including two novels in differing states of completion, short prose pieces I’m itching to finish, and I continue to write poems. When I feel a poem coming on, I drop everything. Although I don’t have another book ready, I’m hoping to place new poems and prose in literary journals.
Thank you, Anne, for taking the time to chat with me. I’m a great fan of your poetry and fiction, and I look forward to reading your next book!
My pleasure, Terry!
To learn more about Terry and where to purchase Why Trees Stay Outside, please visit his website at https://terrytierney.com/poetry/