In honor of the 1-year anniversary of my ‘cancelation,’ my husband Michael and I spoke about the experience, and about my forthcoming novel, Vivienne, which you can preorder here. Our talk led us to discuss poets writing novels, due process, moral economies, Woody Allen, calling people out online, holy fools, Patricia Highsmith, contamination, and the fascinating substance of guilt. It’s honestly pretty juicy. Full post for paid subscribers.
MICHAEL: I remember so clearly getting your phone call. I was driving home from work in May of last year. You read me an email you’d just received from the publishers of your forthcoming book of poetry, which had just gone live on their website a few days prior, in which they demanded explanations for your associations with certain people and publications. You composed a response that was, to my mind, polite and professional, yet you declined to explain yourself or denounce the figures. Your main point: neither artwork nor people should be judged by such associations. It seemed reasonable to me, yet I had a gnawing feeling that it wasn't over, as those in small press publishing so often decline to take the reasonable course of action…