Houses on the Block
3328
the four of them can't sleep. two wanna-be couch potatoes watch old reruns of tom & jerry. ponder partnerships, mammy stereotypes & life & death. sometimes think jerry is stupid. sometimes think tom is mean. laugh at everything. hold hands & the remote like a crucifix.
bless this house. frame this moment. turn the television up. pretend not to hear chemo yelling at cancer. her voice hoarse & weak. i want you out by tomorrow. you freak. you asshole. you make me sick to my stomach. turn the television up. turn it up louder. louder still.
the four of them can't sleep. two wanna-be couch potatoes watch old reruns of tom & jerry. ponder partnerships, mammy stereotypes & life & death. sometimes think jerry is stupid. sometimes think tom is mean. laugh at everything. hold hands & the remote like a crucifix.
bless this house. frame this moment. turn the television up. pretend not to hear chemo yelling at cancer. her voice hoarse & weak. i want you out by tomorrow. you freak. you asshole. you make me sick to my stomach. turn the television up. turn it up louder. louder still.
Mini Interview with Anastacia-Renee
1. Since you published with Crab Creek Review, how has your work grown or changed? What excites you now that maybe didn't back then?
My work has changed because it is a constant evolution which subconsciously and simultaneously tries to keep up with present times, is possessed by nostalgia, has an affinity towards Afrofuturism, dystopic themes and growing wiser. I have continued the path to hybrid writing and have comfortably landed in a space of hybrid and multigenre stew.
2. Is there a particular piece of advice you received that you found yourself returning to as you've written over the years? The biggest advice I have received is to write. I have heard this from multiple ancestor writers I admire. When I first heard this, I thought to myself “Duh!” but I realized writers often (sometimes in the past myself included) talk about what they are going to write or what they have written and that takes up more space than the actual writing. Is there any advice you would give to writers submitting their work? When it comes to submitting work, I want emerging writers to know that rejections are real and though they are disappointing, it means you are doing the work and not just talking about it.
3. What are you reading?
AHHH! I am reading so many things at once because I cannot focus on just one book at a time.
Here’s what’s in my current stack next to my bed:
Salt, Body Shimmer, Aricka Foreman
Here is the Sweet Hands, Francine J. Harris
Anodyne, Khadijah Queen
Insubordinate, Ebo Barton
Patient, Bettina Judd
Neckbone: Visual Verses, Avery Young
This is Major: Notes on Diana Ross, Dank Girls and Being Dope, Shayla Lawson
A Gorgeous New Language, Ben Yisrael
4. What are you working on? I am writing a nonfiction book about effective allyship, polishing up two hybrid/poetry manuscripts, and piecing together a prose book about the 80’s inclusive of conversations between Marsha P and current pop culture figures.
My work has changed because it is a constant evolution which subconsciously and simultaneously tries to keep up with present times, is possessed by nostalgia, has an affinity towards Afrofuturism, dystopic themes and growing wiser. I have continued the path to hybrid writing and have comfortably landed in a space of hybrid and multigenre stew.
2. Is there a particular piece of advice you received that you found yourself returning to as you've written over the years? The biggest advice I have received is to write. I have heard this from multiple ancestor writers I admire. When I first heard this, I thought to myself “Duh!” but I realized writers often (sometimes in the past myself included) talk about what they are going to write or what they have written and that takes up more space than the actual writing. Is there any advice you would give to writers submitting their work? When it comes to submitting work, I want emerging writers to know that rejections are real and though they are disappointing, it means you are doing the work and not just talking about it.
3. What are you reading?
AHHH! I am reading so many things at once because I cannot focus on just one book at a time.
Here’s what’s in my current stack next to my bed:
Salt, Body Shimmer, Aricka Foreman
Here is the Sweet Hands, Francine J. Harris
Anodyne, Khadijah Queen
Insubordinate, Ebo Barton
Patient, Bettina Judd
Neckbone: Visual Verses, Avery Young
This is Major: Notes on Diana Ross, Dank Girls and Being Dope, Shayla Lawson
A Gorgeous New Language, Ben Yisrael
4. What are you working on? I am writing a nonfiction book about effective allyship, polishing up two hybrid/poetry manuscripts, and piecing together a prose book about the 80’s inclusive of conversations between Marsha P and current pop culture figures.
 | Anastacia-Renee is a writer, educator, interdisciplinary artist, TEDx speaker and podcaster. She is a 2020 Arc Fellow(4Culture) and Jack Straw Curator. Renee is the recipient of the James W. Ray Distinguished Artist Award for Washington Artist (2018), Seattle Civic Poet (2017-2019), and Poet-in-Residence at Hugo House (2015-2017). Renee has received fellowships and residencies from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, VONA, Ragdale, Mineral School, and The New Orleans Writers Residency. Her work has been published in the anthologies:, Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry, Spirited Stone: Lessons from Kubota’s Garden, Seismic, Seattle City of Literature and her poetry and fiction have appeared in, Spark, Foglifter, Auburn Avenue, Pinwheel, The Fight and the Fiddle, Crab Creek Review, Glow, The A-Line, Poetry Northwest, Crosscut, Ms. Magazine and many more. https://www.anastacia-renee.com/ |