Jemma Leech

ORP: What inspired you to begin writing or creating? Has that source of inspiration changed throughout your life?

Jemma Leech: My silence is caused by my disability, and so is my poetic voice. When you can’t speak out loud, you spend your life chatting with yourself instead. Looking and listening to the world around you, the poems inevitably come.

ORP: Does writing or creating energize or exhaust you? What aspects of your artistic process would you consider the most challenging or rewarding?

JL: I’m physically tired by the act of writing, of getting the words out onto paper, but the creation of the poetry is thrilling. Perhaps that need for balance is why my poetry is short and rich rather than lengthy and spare. I use one word instead of ten because ten is much too exhausting.

ORP: What does vulnerability mean to you as an artist and/or writer?

JL: Being vulnerable, to me, is not about sharing the facts of your life with others. It’s more about sharing the fiction and fantasy that your imagination fills your mind with. Those stories, those desires, those fears are the most challenging to send out into the world because your art may not be what the world wants.

ORP: What would you say is your most interesting writing and/or artistic quirk? Do you have any habits that you believe help or hinder your creativity?

JL: Lord, I have so many creative quirks! I write easier in company than alone; I love workshopping poems but almost never revise as a result (though I use the advice to make my future poems better); I make up titles at the end, but only because I’m told I must; and I often dump words on a page as a dare – the more random the better – just to see what poetry manages to escape from the mess. It’s quite surprising how much does.

ORP: What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing or creating? What advice would you give to another writer or artist?

JL: My advice to another writer: let all the words in, and then let all the words out again. Don’t try to control the flow in either direction.

Jemma Leech is a silent poet with a loud voice. She is a British/Texan poet and essayist who lives in Houston. While she speaks from the perspective of someone with cerebral palsy and a wheelchair user, she also celebrates nature, reflects on history, and observes the intimacy of human relationships. Her work has appeared in the Gulf Coast Literary Journal, The Raven Review, the Houston Chronicle, The Times, the Times Educational Supplement, and on ABC News. She has given readings of her work through Inprint, the Houston Public Library, and Public Poetry Houston.

Read Jemma’s poem “Arriving in a new place is better than departing the old” FROM ISSUE 7.1 Here.