Interview: Anna Jackson talks about Terrier, Worrier

Anna Jackson is the author of seven collections of poetry as well as Diary Poetics: Form and Style in Writers’ Diaries 1915–1962 and Actions & Travels: How Poetry Works. She lives in Island Bay, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, and is associate professor in English literature at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington. Anna talks to NZ Booklovers.

Tell us a little about Terrier, Worrier.

Terrier, Worrier is a book of thoughts - thoughts I have had on being a person, language, instincts, emotions, my hens, my chickens, grieving, dreaming, what an afterlife might be, what it is to worry, what I should be worrying about.  It is like a poem in that it leaps from one thing to another, and much of the meaning is in the gaps and in the rhythm, but it could be called a memoir, or an essay.  If you like works by Maggie Nelson, Heather Christle or Elisa Gabbert this is your kind of book. 

What inspired you to write this poetry?

I was inspired by books of a hybrid genre, that suggested there could be a way of putting ideas together in a non-linear, fragmentary, poetry-like way.  Then I introduced some linearity after all, by arranging the thoughts in terms of seasons.  A whole year passes in the course of the book! 

What research was involved?

No research was involved, but I am always reading, so the book is full of things I have learned randomly, like the fact that sparrows don't see each other as brown but as shimmering blue!  

If a soundtrack were made to accompany this book, name a song or two you would include.

A sound-track for the book would include "These Days," sung by Nico or perhaps the Cat Power version; "Bird Flew By," by Nick Drake, the 1970s singer-songwriter; "A Promise is a Pendulum" by Big Thief; and "Seasons Change," by Nadia Reid.

What did you enjoy the most about writing this poetry?

I wrote this book while cat-sitting, so what I most liked about writing it was making a lap for Oli - I worked on a laptop, often balanced precariously on the cat.  He didn't seem to mind. 

What did you do to celebrate finishing this book?

I celebrated finishing the book the way I always finish writing a book, sending it to my friends Angelina and Helen, who read everything I write before the world does.  Then we went out and drank Bellinis.

What is your favourite book so far this year?

My favourite book I read this year was Amy Marguerite's over under fed, a book of wildly incandescent poetry.  And for incandescent poetry in prose, Claire-Louise Bennett's extraordinary Checkout 19, a book in which every sentence is a miracle, the most alive book imaginable. 

What’s next on the agenda for you?

Next on the agenda: a book of essays on new New Zealand poetry, that I have edited with Dougal McNeill and Robert Sullivan, comes out in October.  I'm already working on far too many other books at once, as well - but so far they are all secret, some of them even from me. 

Auckland University Press