Introducing Grace Ocasio: Poet and Performer Part II

Here is the second part of my interview with North Carolina poet,  Grace Ocasio.  Click here if you missed Part I.

Photo of Grace
by Edwin Ocasio

Carol: How did you pick your publisher?  

Grace: I found BlazeVOX in a list of small presses and was  glad to see that it was open to submissions throughout the year. I received an encouraging email after my submission, but that was all. Over a year's time I received a series of emails pertaining to upcoming group readings of BlazeVOX authors as well as their online journal of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. I didn't think much of these emails except that many poetry publishers send little or no material out to potential authors. I liked that the publisher, Geoffrey Gatza, reached out without soliciting funds. His approach struck me as egalitarian in the best sense of the word.  Geoffrey is also a motivator which is highly unusual within the poetry field.  The more I interacted with Geoffrey via email exchanges, the more I knew BlazeVOX was right for me.  There was another small press interested in my manuscript, but ultimately I went with my gut feeling and committed to going with BlazeVOX.  I haven’t regretted it. 

 Carol: How will you market The Speed of Our Lives?  
Grace: I’m planning to send some books to Small Press Distribution this November, which will allow the book to be seen by many fellow poets.  Although it is available through my website, Amazon, and on BlazeVOX, I have mainly promoted the book through my readings. Selling poetry books is really not a lucrative business.   It’s most important to make connections with other poets: to go to other poets’ readings, to invest the time in attending meetings and/or conferences sponsored by organizations like the Association of  Writers and Writing Programs, the North Carolina Writers’ Network, the Poetry Society of North Carolina, and the Charlotte Writers’ Club. 

Carol: Any recommendations for other poets?  
Grace: Persist, persist, persist.  You are your own greatest promoter.  You will receive a ton of rejections and a handful of acceptances.  It is simply the nature of the poetry profession.  Don’t take it personal.  Don’t give up.  Your ultimate acceptance is just around the corner.  Hang on.

Carol: What are you working on now?   

Grace: I am working on a children’s book designed for older middle graders, The Adventures of South Bronx Sally, and my second full-length poetry project, Family Reunion.   I only have three more poems to write for the Family Reunion project, and some of those poems are making their way into small press journals. Then I hope to turn my attention entirely to South Bronx Sally soon. 

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Grace will autograph a copy of The Speed of Our Lives for one of you. Leave me a comment by 6 PM on November 13 and I'll enter your name in the giveaway.  If you say what you liked about Grace's poem on last week's blog, I'll enter your name twice. Make sure you leave me your email address if I don't have it. 

Introducing Grace Ocasio: Poet and Performer- Part I

Congratulations to Melodye Shore who won a copy of Linda Phillips' book, CRAZY.

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For the next two weeks I welcome North Carolina poet Grace Ocasio, to my blog. Today you will read about why she writes in a poetic style and will be treated to a selection from her recently released book, The Speed of Our Lives (BlazeVOX Books) Next week you'll hear about her marketing plan, what she is working on next, and have the opportunity to win a copy of her book. 

Take it away, Grace!

Carol: Why poetry?  

Grace: Poetry is the medium I’ve always written in, ever since I was fourteen years old and a regional and national participant within the poetry field of the NAACP-sponsored program, the Afro-Academic, Cultural,Technological and Scientific Olympics.  Shortly before I began writing poetry in 1979, I listened to Gil Scott-Heron’s album, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.  As a result, I started tinkering with the English language.  Scott-Heron inspired me to write in a conversational style very different from what I was learning in my eighth grade English class!  I will always be indebted to him for instilling in me the desire to write poetry.

Carol: It's great that positive experiences in your high school years laid the ground work for your present accomplishments. What was the specific inspiration for The Speed of Our Lives? 

Grace:   I knew that I wanted to write a poetry collection that would contain a poem for everyone.  I had concluded that my poetry chapbook, Hollerin from This Shack (Ahadada Books, 2009), was a bit dark, a bit pessimistic regarding humanity.  So I wanted to lighten up somewhat. I wanted to pull people in who might not ordinarily read poetry and still tackle topics that were important to me.  

Carol: What links the poems together?

Grace: The poems are loosely linked: the first section is about famous women;  the second section is autobiographical, regarding my varied experiences in my twenties, thirties, and early forties; the third section focuses on famous men and some nature poems; and the fourth section is primarily about black men, some famous, some not-so-famous.

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Here is one of Grace's poems, Ars Poetica, from the second section of the book called, She Revolutionary. I think many of you will resonate with the sentiments she expresses in it.

They laughed when I asked

for pancetta,

those grocery store clerks.

I don’t care.

It’s better to be chic

than to lie

in some bland corner

of a room,

wilting and frumpy.

What do I care

for the woman

who never dares to wear

a houndstooth jacket?

It’s up to us to set

the speed of our lives.

Audrey, for instance,

could dazzle

simply by placing

an ordinary swatch

against her skin:

chiffon, silk, organza.

To the nay-sayers I say

if you choose to live

like toads why should I care?

It would have been easier

to ask for Italian bacon.

But isn’t it better

to be swift than rushed?

Better to be svelte than thin?

Better to seek than to settle?

(first appeared in Rattle, Summer 2009, special issue: Tribute to African American Poets)

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Join us next week for a chance to win a copy of The Speed of Our Lives.