PITYMILK: Hi Claire! Thank you SO MUCH for making time to volley with us a little. First things first — Where are you writing from? Where in the world? Are you originally from the Chicagoland area? Do you feel excited about and connected to a creative community there?
CLAIRE RYCHLEWSKI: I’m writing from the gross recesses of my brain, but I was born and raised in Chicago. I’ve never wanted to live anywhere else. There are lots of overlapping creative communities with myriad talented writers here, and (importantly) most people aren’t foaming at the mouth to monetize everything, or trade off clout. Chicago, like poetry, is about doing it for the love of the game.
PM: Your writing has a dark and lacy undertone we are totally in love with. When we first met you at an apartment reading in Chicago, you had on an amazing nine inch nails t-shirt… how do you relate to the term “goth”? Do other art forms, like music and film make an impression on the things you do?
CR: There’s a video of a 2013 NIN show where Trent Reznor addresses the audience and he says, “Having a good time? Ready to party, have fun? Yeah, well, that was the last guys. Wrong fuckin’ band. We’re here to have a bad time.” And then launches into “Copy of A.”
I love the concept of pursuing (and producing) art with the intention of courting a bad time. A spiritual queasiness. I love Cronenberg — “Maps to the Stars,” “Crimes of the Future,” “Videodrome.” I just saw “The Substance,” which was insanely disgusting and wildly fun. I really enjoy something grotesque with a bit of a wink. And I try to channel that in my own writing.
PM: Who would you say are writers you are historically and currently the most excited about? Who constitutes your literary lineage? Who was the first poet, or poets, that really made you wet for more?
CR: I wish I could tattoo John Ashberry’s “Late Echo” on my body. There’s still time. That was the first poem I read where I was like, oh, it’s fucking on. It’s quite sentimental but very weird and sometimes you get a bit lost, before finding yourself at the end.
I love Nadia de Vries. She writes these brutal epigrams that feel both ageless and hyper-relevant. Her collections “Dark Hour” (2018) and “I Failed To Swoon” (2021) resonate every time I reread them.
Sara Sutterlin just published a collection called “Above Reproach.” It’s really biting and funny and thoughtful. I love the way she writes about love — as a painful humiliation ritual, because it is! She also writes (both poetry and essays) with a masterful command of anger. I don’t miss a Substack post of hers, which I think is relatively high praise
PM: Loaded question: How excited were you to find out you had a DUETDUET date with the inimitable Dylan Krieger? Was it hot? One for the books? How do you think your little offerings held one another?
CR: When I see a line like “claw machine of eternal cocktease” — it’s also very, oh, it’s so on. I especially loved looking at “erotics of the soapbox” alongside my “My preaching is mostly about me.” Both seem to capture the singularly focused nature of sexuality in different ways, and it’s fun to see both play a bit with religious terminology.
PM: Give us a little insight into your writing practice? Are you a pen to paper type? Notes app? Do you take ritualistic baths and consume magickal substances to channel the muses? How do you know a poem is finished? How does the process begin?
CR: I use the Notes app for little germs of ideas, or lines, especially if I’m not in a physical or mental space to sit down and write. My phone is essentially fused to my hand anyway. Otherwise I’ll freewrite in a Google doc, then bold or highlight phrases I liked, transfer
those to a different document and try to ascertain whether there’s any there, there.
Sometimes the idea and execution for an entire poem happens in one sitting, more or less. This one in SARKA‘s first issue, for example. Other times it’s a slog through hell to get a final version I like — in which case, there’s usually something more fundamentally wrong or inauthentic about the poem.
PM: Describe chicago style… how does this apply to poetry? To cheesecake? To gothic fashion?
CR: Chicago takes itself just seriously enough — an important quality generally, but I think it’s a good lens to look at one’s art through as well.
PM: What was your favorite cartoon as a kid? What do you think drew you to it?
CR: I was a big Arthur head. Like the children of that show, I love the library and hanging out with my friends.
PM: What are you excited about? What projects do you have in the works? Going on vacation soon? Starting a cult? How can we keep up with what you are doing? How can ppl follow along?
CR: In theory, I’m trying to put together a full-length collection but I’m in a space of hating everything I’ve written. At some point, I’ll push through that. In more immediate news, I’ll be reading at Cafe Mustache later this month (10/23/24) for a scary story salon. I’m writing prose for it, which is fun. I’m doing my best Shirley Jackson.
Check out Claire and Dylan’s DUETDUET in issue 8!!! Or have a whole party and start your archive with a party pack of all ten issues of DUETDUET plus one special DOOM DUET (11 books!!!!!) Love live small press!!!
