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Ladies and gentlemen of Lit.Org, and readers, I give you with great pleasure a relatively new member to Lit, Sadi-Ranson-Polizzotti (sadijane on lit). She has posted wonderful poetry, is active on her own site and others, is widely published, and has a fascinating professional history. She also has a book available at amazon (see link in the column)....
It is rare that we have the opportunity to hear from someone who has had her experience in the publishing industry, and I am proud I corralled her long enough to bring her to you...and her picture will be in the EXPOSED! album within the next two hours...:)
With fall upon us, and elections imminent, activities abound, opinions run hot, and things seem a little unsettled. But there is one thing on which we can all agree. We are here at this place, and in this time for the writing. Sadi is all about the writing.
Q: Sadi, your bio on your website (www.tantmieux.squarespace.com) shows a wealth of experience in writing. Can you expand a little on your bio there and give lit members a little snapshot of your professional life?
A: Sure, I started working in publishing proper when I was very, very young. It began as working for a local newspaper when my mother got cancer, and I wanted to write a column about that experience and how I became a mother to my siblings during that time. Some major newspapers picked up the column and after that, an editor at GQ whom I used to baby-sit for contacted me. He saw me with my typewriter every night and said I should work as a writer and took me to work with him one day. I applied for a position at Conde Nast, which owns Vogue, Mademoiselle, and just about everything, and my god, I was hired!
I started to work at Vogue when I was fifteen. I was the youngest person ever hired. After that, I never wavered. I studied writing, went on to work in publishing, at The Atlantic Monthly, and other presses and then I started my own imprint called Lumen Editions. We did incredibly well, and in fact, published the last book ever written by Marguerite Duras (“Writing” by Lumen Editions). You can still find the books today.
Q: If I am correct, you have spent time in both Europe and the US....favorite things about both?
A: I am a British citizen but my family is from Scotland, so I’ve always identified myself more Scottish and I look more Scottish too. This is a tough question, because I miss home a great deal. For the UK, I miss the weather mostly – those lovely grey days and rainy days, the lack of humidity in the air, the crispness, the beautiful old buildings (remember, we have buildings from the thirteenth century and before, so old there is different than in the U.S.). I miss my old school and all of my friends, but mostly, I miss the landscape – the shape of the country, the colors, the sky.
America has been great to me for other reasons: the weather I could do without. I can’t tolerate the heat and humidity especially. I love American enthusiasm; the We can do anything, attitude that I think sometimes we lack in Europe, esp. Scotland. We’re often considered a poor stepchild of Britain, you know, so we can be a bit defeatist, I think. America affords so many opportunities as well. I also love baseball, the Midwest, the affordability of living here – you can rent a house near the sea for very little money in contrast to Europe. So my love of Europe is emotional, and my love of America has more practical roots, I think.
Q: Your website (www.tantmieux.squarespace.com) is a wonderful publishing site, and seems to emphasize the arts in a unique and fascinating way...can you tell me more about it...what was the catalyst to it's creation...share with us all about it .
A: Tant Mieux, which is French for “so much the better” was created mostly as an outlet for my own writing – that was it’s original intent. That quickly grew and I found that I wanted to publish the work of others as well and so I started The Tant Mieux Poetry Project.
The mission is simple: if it’s good and if it makes me think, then I’ll publish it, but the one quality I insist on is that it be lasting work – that it be relevant in the future and not just for the moment now. In my own work, I strive to not be trendy, because trends come and go. Tant Mieux was created after I left a fulltime job and at first I thought this was a bad thing, but I quickly came to see that this was actually all for the best and so the name , so much the better, quickly came to me. The first article on Tant Mieux was about work and the politics of the American workplace, which are different from the European workplace. I wrote about that and that was pretty widely syndicated.
Now, we were voted Best of the Web and Tant Mieux receives thousands of hits every day; we’re also a major resource for writers, universities, teachers etc because I cover a lot of scholarly issues in literature and especially in film. We have an offshoot to the site called “Sotto Voce | Film” . The goal is to just publish the best work possible and hope that it affects at least one person – and so far, we seem to be ranking even more than that.
Q: You have a particular philosophy about poetry and its writing...what it should do, how it should be approached, would you mind sharing (I know it already but the lit members don't)?
Poetry should always strive to capture the jewel inherent in any moment. You have to be very Aristotelian about it and ask “What is the thing in and of itself”, as we used to say in school, what is the things “thingness”, it’s ultimate purpose. Writing poetry is about knowing what each moment is about. Not just describing it, but also finding your true subject and then bringing that out.
It’s a little like archeology. You find something after much digging, dust it off, dust with precision and make it perfect and bright again and unearthed. You do this, but as you write, you must watch your words – every single word must count. Economy of words and precision are key to successful poetry. Every word must have a purpose and every poem should be real aloud – as poetry was originally intended. IF it doesn’t sound good out loud, then go back and try again.
Q: You have published a book etitled "Eels" (available at www.amazon.com), can you give us a teaser about its creation...what it is about, why you undertook that particular project?
Eels started out as a few ramblings or musings on a particular topic. I was working on this while at The Atlantic or shortly after, and I sent the pieces to my old editor there who encouraged me to put them together as a book. The book itself is about the oldest of all topics – a love affair. But more than this, the book is about right and wrong and how the answer is not always so simple. That an affair can be at once both right and wrong, and that true love can be found in something that perhaps otherwise may be sordid. IT all depends on the players in the situation and the depth of feeling. AT its core, Eels is about the main character, Esther, and how she navigates her way through this incredibly bright and also incredibly dark time in her life. It’s so much about contrast in every way that it is almost a study in black and white, yet at the end, the message of Eels is that almost everything is shades of grey.
Q: Even though you are relatively new at lit, you have published some wonderful poetry here. Can you select your favorite from among the ones you have submitted?
A: Probably Rainy Day Prophecy. It’s pretty dark, but as poem I really like the imagery here and I like the economy of words. It’s “tight” as a poem and the warning here is inherent almost in every word. There is a real sense of foreboding and danger and we are never sure of what or whom. That leaves us wondering and a bit unnerved and that was the goal. To say that things are not always as they seem.
rainy day prophecy
The rain will not address me.
It will only whisper: Elsewhere,
I fall. Secrets concealed behind
some watery shield. The brownstone
tome. Some other heart beats, pink,
raw. He is the rain’s dark
martyr and like the rain,
whispers secrets.
You are uninvited. Closed in
your lockbox. Streaks blue
the vision. Unclear. A psychic’s
half-prophecy. The clouds sheet
all. Lovers wrapped in cotton;
A mackerel sky. A fish eye, dream
of a fetus conjured by you. Conceived
by two. Lightning brights the land,
halogen white. It is blank. Blank
and soundless. Nothing left for you here.
You rise through the darkness like helium.
Q: You have a really fine grasp of imagery by language. Is that something you acquired through education, or is it more of an inherent ability?
A: Certainly not through education! I guess I’ve always had what my mother has, which is a “photographic memory” as she calls it. My mother has this incredibly ability to recall the details of any moment in her life, down to what people were wearing twenty years ago. If it’s possible to inherit this gift, then I did and I got it from her. I think we should strive to create a picture for the reader though – it makes each poem or prose piece that much more effective by creating a kind of “set.”
Q: In your poem "the night trace"...I read the comments, but I got the feeling it was about an unwelcome love...is that the case?
the night trace
Careful. It creaks that step.
Announces the arrival,
This house, not discreet.
Trace your route, the amber
Grain wood to my room
Suck your velvet cherry.
Love, I hear you come.,
A: I think the lover is welcome, but there is a note of caution; perhaps there is someone else in the house that may hear. It’s about something that is just a little bit elicit – not terribly elicit, but a little bit – a note of caution is there.
Q: "Recipe for the Broken" is one of my favorites of yours. It seems almost self-convincing. Are the symbols an adequate substitute for what they are supposed to mean?
recipe for the broken
What would I be, dear
Without you, this ring, these things,
They shout, You are loved!
Without, I am blank, the mid-day
Sky, faceless and blue. No cloud
To comment, only murmur,
Stutter, arterial flutter
Panic bird of the anxious.
Your offerings they bring
The bloodrush, cheekflush
The comment, We have fixed it!
It beats metronomic
Shrugs off the wet cloak
False note. Hear it now:
How steady and light!
We have palmed it
Now crimson, now bright
Buttered in our high holy
Unction. Feel now:
The strong beat. The wum
Pum-pum, the warrior
Drum of love.
A: Recipe for the Broken was written in Paris during a time that was a real change-point for me. I think the symbols are enough because they come from a deep place – a place that is literal. I’ve taken the literal and made it metaphorical, instead of the other way round (which is what you usually do in poetry); in this way, Recipe For The Broken is a bit like a reverse poem, but yes, I think it works. I think those things, like “palming the heart” back to life, the cooking references, are ones that would work – at least, for me.
Q: And in that vein, what is Sadi's definition of love?
A: Wow! Love is so much about need and more about want. If you do not want someone, then you do not love them, and likewise with need. Need gets a really bad rap as something negative when I would say the opposite. Love is about needing another person in a positive way so that together you form the complete package. Of course, we strive for this on our own – to be everything all by ourselves – but I think in the real world that is unreasonable. Nobody is one hundred percent whole. We’re all a little flawed and we should find that person who can help us be whole, who compliments our half that we bring to the table. When you find that match, you have love. That and in the kiss; if the kiss makes you shake, you have found love.
Q: What nudges your muse to write? Situation, emotion, regret, reflection? What do you consider the greatest muse in your personal writing?
A: I would say sorrow and then redemption or resolution. We all go through deep sorrows in our lives, but finding redemption for ourselves and forgiveness for those others is the tough part. If you can do that, then you can find a poem in there somewhere. Poetry is a lot about Contrition to me; Contrition and redemption and forgiveness. We head down this path and we find our way to living and forgiving others. My objective is to write about that journey and that’s what I try and do – how we find our way back to each other after all the things we endure and do to each other.
Q: You have endured epilepsy and know about challenge in that way. You have also had experiences in your life which have been life changing. How much, and in what way, have they impacted your writing
A: A great deal, likely, but hard for me to say or know. Epilepsy has long been tied to genius and creativity, so in this way I think it has had a huge impact on my work. I just look at the other epileptics who are known for their work and think really I’m blessed to have epilepsy. That’s an unusual point of view, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t be who I am without that, and I rather like who I am for the most part, even though I can be difficult and needy I’m okay with that. We’re all a bit whiny.
Q: Are we stronger or better artists because of our challenges or in spite of them?
A: I would stay stronger because of them, but sometimes in spite. It depends on the challenge. You have to really apply yourself sometimes in life just to survive because, shit, it can be really, really hard sometimes. But as a poet, you can get that out of who you are, and put it on the sheet in front of you and work it out like a mathematical equation. That’s how I see it. For every problem, there is a poem solution.
Q: On another site you wrote a letter to "the universe" for lack of a better term, which said you feel somewhat at loose ends, frustrated, and gave wonderful insights into your life. (www.blogcritics.org). Do we suffer for our art, or is that how we find our way back through healing?
A: We find our way back to healing through our art, as I wrote before about sin, contrition, forgiveness. In a way, we write the litany and we live it out.
Q: Talk to me about the blank page syndrome. There is not an author or artist who has not suffered from it. Any particular stories about gaps in your creative spark?
A: Sure, but I always work my way through it. I do not leave the day with a blank page – ever. That’s not an option.
Q: If you could make a universal impact with your writing, what would you hope to acomplish
A: I would hope to make people more empathetic in general. To see the pain of others and what that is like. I think if can have empathy, then issues like war, etc. are resolved because we see the pain of others as no different from our own. In the final account, it’s all about empathy, forgiveness, contrition, and learning from each other and from the past. If we can do that, then we can resolve most of the major issues that have torn the world apart today.
Q: What are your goals, your aspirations, both within the publishing/professional world and in personal life?
Professionally, I feel very fortunate to have achieved a certain standing, though in my world of over achievers it’s never quite enough; I’m always striving for more and more and to get into that one publication that is the hold out. Right now, I’m aiming for The New Yorker and The Atlantic Monthly – I hope to be published in both and then I will feel more that I’ve made some impression.
Personally, my goal is to live and to learn. It’s so simple for me; I want to be happy and I want to make others happy. If I can learn from my mistakes, then maybe I can help others not make the same mistakes. I hope I can accomplish that for my friends, my family. More than anything, I want to be remembered as a kind person, and I want people to know that everything in life is “one step up and two steps back” as Bruce Springsteen told us. Maybe he didn’t know how right he was, but our goal is, despite that, to keep trying and never give up.
If Lance Armstrong can come back and win the tour de france multiple times after cancer, then by god, I can overcome my cancer, which I’ve had for three years now, and I can get published and make a difference before I die. Pray that I do, and my ultimate goal is to live so that when I do die, I know that my memorial service will be packed with people for whom I’ve made some small or big difference – and I hope they play Bob Dylan “Don’t Think Twice” as well.
If all of that happens, then I have succeeded in every way.
Q: I have often asked this question...how important IS education in writing? Advantages? Disadvantages? I would like your thoughts.
A: I think education is the last thing that is important in writing, and I say this after being thoroughly educated for many years and putting myself through undergrad and graduate school at the finest universities. AT the end of the day, you have to have some raw talent and you also, most importantly, have to write every single day. You can’t just go around calling yourself a “writer” if you don’t work at it. Or you can, but that’s deeply affected and insulting to those who really strive. Writing is work, like anything. You faced the blank page every morning or every night, but you face it and you fill it. It may be crap one day, but brilliant the next. But I can guarantee you that if you do not write every day, you will never improve. It’s hard work; education can’t teach you that.
Q: There are many people who contribute to lit.org who aspire to be published. You have been, widely. Share some tips for new writers (or old writers) who are overwhelmed by the mire of the publishing industry...
A: Submit, submit , submit! I still send out twenty envelopes at a time and that’s what you have to do. You have to keep trying and save all of those rejection letters. I still save them. I used to paste the rejection letters upside down over my desk, and the acceptance letters right side up. Believe me, I had more rejections than acceptance. But you keep trying, you make this huge effort and you just keep knocking on that door while honing your craft. Poetry is work; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Rapid-fire wanna knows:
Q: What is your favorite poem/poet of all time?
A: WB Yeats, most likely, and Tennyson. It's very hard to choose between the two. As for a favorite poem, I'd have to say Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll for it's sheer brilliance and creativity. Nonsense work is always fascinating to me; it says so much without being in any comprehensible language.
Q: Favorite non-fiction work/author?
A: I would have to say that for nonfiction I'm a big admirer of Emerson as well as Aristotle - you have to remember, I studied philosophy both grad and undergrad.
Q: Favorite fiction work/author?
Fiction - this is changeable for me. I love Graham Greene, I love Nabokov more - I'd have to say "Ada or Ardour" by Vladimir Nabokov.
Q: What are your pet peeves in other's writing?
Work that is too precious or "poety" and uses big words just for the sake of being too-clever-by-half. That is annoying. I strive not to be that.
Q: If you could live anywhere in the world, and take six people with, living or dead...where would it be and who would you take....
A: France, at least right now. Probably Paris, with a summer house in Pressigny in the Loire somewhere.
I'd take with me;
1. Alfred Lord Tennyson - because we could relate to each other via our poetry and the fact that we're both epileptic, same for
2. Lewis Carroll (also epileptic) and a genius - a mathemetician to boot and I love math.
3. My husband, Mark Polizzotti, because I adore him and he keeps me in check.
4. My best friend Ian, because he's my touchstone and without him I'm lost, like a half of a person.
5. Virginia Woolf, because we need a strong woman around and she needs a great deal of love.
6. My brother Richard, who is dead but who I miss terribly because he is just wonderful and my favorite person to walk on the boardwalk with.
Q: If there was one thing in your life you could do over again, what would it be?
A: That's tough. I think I would change how I met my husband, because although I'm deeply glad we met, the circumstances were not the best to say the least. I would change how we met and then I would do that first kiss again because it was wonderful and the best kiss I've ever had. Luckily, I get to do that most every day and it's still new and fresh - even better at times than the first. Like Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronin - we'll grow old and I pray, graceful, together.
thanks for such thoughtful questions. A bien tot, and Amen to all that.
I want to thank Sadi for agreeing to be EXPOSED! I knew she would have a wealth of things to bring to us all, and she did.
As always, questions, comments, praise or citicism is welcome at exposedwriters@hotmail.com, and I hope to hear from all....
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Reader’s question of the several weeks...LOL
Q: Where the hell have you been? You have not been commenting or posting much.
A: In these last few weeks of pre-election frenzy, I have been swamped with work, which has taken me away from my favorite pastime, writing my own poetry, and commenting on others....
Only one more day and I will be back into gear. I apologize for the sporadic emails, the hit and miss online contact, and the heinous lack of comments on all your wonderful work. I’ll rectify that shortly, and I do appreciate your concern that I had been kidnapped by gypsies! :)
Until next time,
Claire
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EXPOSED! at lit.org (williamhill)
