The Lightning Room With Jennifer Pilch

Welcome to the Lightning Room, where DeWitt Brinson & Simon Jacobs take turns asking PANK authors extremely difficult questions about their work.

December interviews come courtesy of the mind of DeWitt Brinson.

Two poems by Jennifer Pilch appeared in our March Issue. Read them won’t you? Especially, if you work for or own a circus, because Jennifer will infiltrate you, release all of your animals, and drop a mighty sequoia on your ass.

1.  What is the connection between sex and the definition of words? Why has it always been that way?

Words are our bodies; definitions are directions how we would like it done.

2.  What questions do you try to answer with your poetry or with these poems specifically?

What collides visually, emotionally, and historically?  There is no other present.

3. When you feel like a failure, where does your mind go?

To my childhood speech impairment:  My father would ask, “What’s that flying above?” to laugh at the way I’d say “bawd.”

4. Have you ever or do you ever think you could perform a circus act? (e.g. geek show, sword swallowing, ghost conjuring)?

Yes, to release circus animals into sanctuaries.

5. Who are you reading now?

Lisa Robertson, Mei Mei Berssenbrugge, and Hesoid.

6. What’s the largest tree you’ve ever touched and how did you feel when you touched it?

A Sequoia:  I felt numb, so I pounded the trunk, but it didn’t vibrate; it didn’t make a sound.

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DeWitt Brinson is a poet. That guy, he does it all.