Writers are sometimes drawn to other writers for what they have in common, like subject or theme. But they also can be drawn by the differences, in say craft or style. Something of both draws Ashley Farmer to Victoria Chang.
“Victoria Chang is such a masterful, original poet whose work just flicks a switch in my brain,” Farmer says. “While I love all of her books, her collection The Boss made a strong impression on me. Among many subjects, she explores jobs, authority, and family in poems like ‘Once I Was a Child,'” one of the poems Farmer has chosen to read for our third annual Poets in Pajamas. Farmer says she addressed similar themes of labor, work, and belonging in her 2015 book The Farmacist, which was about “escaping into the simplistic video game Farm Town at a time when, in real life, I had long days of tenuous employment.”
Apart from similarities in subject, Farmer says she is attracted to Chang’s craft. “I’m entranced by how she does it. The lyricism of her poems is so original and powerful — it sweeps you up from the first line. Reading her work aloud leaves me a little breathless.”
From her own work, Farmer has chosen to read “Digging Deep,” from The Farmacist.
Ashley Marie Farmer is the author of four collections of prose and poetry. Her work has been published in places like TriQuarterly, The Progressive, Santa Monica Review, Buzzfeed, Flaunt, Nerve, Gigantic, DIAGRAM, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a Best American Essays notable distinction, Ninth Letter’s Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction, the Los Angeles Review’s Short Fiction Award, as well as fellowships from Syracuse University and the Baltic Writing Residency. Ashley lives in Salt Lake City with the writer Ryan Ridge. Her new collection of essays, Dear Damage, was published in March by Sarabande. You can find her at ashleymfarmer.com.
Running annually during the month of April, Poets in Pajamas invites Utah poets to read from their own work and the work of a poet they admire.
Categories: Literary Arts | Poets in Pajamas
