Several times a month we connect with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future.
Name: Emily Patterson
Title of Pieces Published in Sweet: Uninhabited; After Two Years, the Midwife Explains
Issue: 2024 Poetry Contest; 16
You can find Emily in Columbus, Ohio where she a curriculum designer and editor. Find out more about Emily on her website.
Find Her
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What are some major accomplishments you have had since your Sweet publication?
My debut full-length collection, The Birth of Undoing, will be published by Sheila-Na-Gig Editions later this year! It includes the poems “Uninhabited” and “After Two Years, the Midwife Explains,” both published in Sweet. It explores infertility and parenthood, and the lasting effects of infertility after becoming a parent.
Can you tell us about a current/ongoing project that you’re excited about?
I’m currently working on a second poetry collection. Its themes include nature and climate, as well as spirituality and motherhood.
Who is your favorite author?
Some of my favorites are Mary Oliver, Jhumpa Lahiri, Ada Limón, Ann Patchett, and Colm Tóibín.
What is your favorite poem/essay/book?
If I had to choose one poem, it would be Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Go to the Limits of Your Longing.”
What inspires you to write?
My daughter, traveling, and being in nature.
What are you reading right now?
The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry and Go as a River by Shelley Read
What is your favorite sweet?
I love fruit scones! I recently made this recipe from the NY Times.
Thank you, Emily, for taking the time to reconnect with us again! Congratulations on your forthcoming book. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!
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