An Interview with Elinor Serumgard

by mk zariel

mk zariel: For people unfamiliar with your work, can you talk a little about this book?

Elinor Serumgard: Of course! Analogous Annum is my first chapbook and it is a collection of poems that follow the seasons, from the end of summer to the start of the next summer. The poems are both about sensory pleasures of the natural world around me and my desire to form my own identity. These poems are all from my post collegiate life. I’m learning what it means to be a person outside of the academic schedule that has shaped most of my life. It is also a love letter to my home in western Washington.

mk: When you were writing this, what was your creative process like? How did you get ideas, feedback, and the like?

ES: I did not set out to collect these specific poems in a chapbook together. The first poems I wrote for this manuscript were “Solstice Poem” and “hottest days/nights” which I wrote in the summer of 2022, after graduating from Western Washington University in June. That spring, poet Joshua Nguyen paid my poetry class a virtual visit and mentioned that one of the best things you could do for your work is to give it time. At that moment, the advice seemed so impractical. I was raring at the bit, wanting to get my work out there, how was I
supposed to wait? In the long run though, it was helpful to wait. To write when I could and make sure I got any and all ideas on paper, then re-visit to edit and figure out where and how to publish it. I started carrying mini notebooks to my grocery store job so I could write down lines when they came to me.

So these poems came to fruition in a lot of different ways. I was lucky enough to be visiting the Chelan Public Library when poet Subhaga Crystal Bacon was there for a little talk discussing William Stafford’s The Methow River Poems. It’s a collection of poems for interpretive signs along the Methow River in Washington State. A lot of the poems in the chapbook explore Washington’s environment, even if it isn’t addressed directly. I also attended a virtual program put on by Hugo House, where I both wrote and workshopped some poems. After having a difficult time with a collaborative creative project not
working out, along with a long-term injury giving me more time to work on writing, I pushed myself to figure out if I had pieces that would work together in a manuscript. I figured if I did, I could find somewhere to submit it, and even if it wasn’t accepted it would be good practice.

mk: What were your poetic influences?

ES: Before the conception of Analogous Annum I was drawn back to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay Circles. I wrote an essay about Emily Dickinson’s inspiration from that essay in college. The notion of circularity is the framework for this chapbook, and ways I return to the same ideas at different times of the year (and my life).

Other poetic influences include my inimitable professor Jane Wong, Matthew Schnirman, Chen Chen, Naomi Shihab Nye, and so many more.

mk: This book is a lot about escapism, sensory pleasures, and connection. In a time of increased fascism, where do you see the role of sensory joy in resistance?

ES: I am constantly inspired by Audre Lorde’s essay Poetry Is Not A Luxury (1985) in which she writes,

For within structures defined by profit, by linear power, by
institutional dehumanization, our feelings were not meant to
survive. Kept around as unavoidable adjuncts or pleasant
pastimes, feelings were meant to kneel to thought as we were
meant to kneel to men.

I don’t think I can say it much better than that. “Institutional dehumanization” is exactly what we are living through, poetry is both a means to escape this and a foundation for connection. Creating anything: poetry, food, photography, music, etc. is a fantastic way to establish sensory joy. A big part of turning that joy into resistance is in sharing it. Creating moments of connection with others is a foundational step in building a community.

mk: And what does it look like to represent that in poetry?

ES: I think it looks like being vulnerable in art, then sharing that. It’s scary, living in the world, feeling isolated or unheard. Putting words to that and using our art to feel present with other people, it’s a powerful step.

mk: What do you envision for your next project?

ES: I have a few ideas for next projects. I have another chapbook in the works, this one more themed from the start, rather than brought
together later. It revolves around the idea of a “popstar poet”; a glamorous alter-ego voice I take on to provide escapism from my real-life chronic ACL tear. It also combines my love for flamboyance and showmanship with the softer side of being a poet. I would also like to write more prose. I get nervous about writing prose, but I have some ideas I want to work on. I had an idea a while back for an essay about queerness and the instances where people say, “Oh I realized down the line that was my first gay crush” about a friend or a friend or television character. I feel like I had a different experience to that.

Elinor Serumgard (they/them) is a writer and artist from Issaquah, Washington. Their work has been published in Stone of Madness Press, Cicada Creative Magazine, and #EnbyLife Journal. They love writing about queer identity and nature, often intertwined with each other. You can find them at www. elinorserumgard.com and @elinorserumgard on Instagram.