LeeAnn Olivier
Oyster River Pages: Who do you consider to be your creative ancestors and contemporaries for your art and/or writing? How does your creative work converse with theirs?
LeeAnn Olivier: My influences and poetic ancestors are diverse but probably all share a Romantic sensibility. My poem “Bright Star” in this issue of ORP converses with songwriter Anais Mitchell (creator of the musical Hadestown) as well as poet John Keats. Both of those writers allude to classical mythology and fairy tales. They also utilize celestial and natural imagery to describe relationships with people they revere from afar, and that is what I hope to do in this poem by paying homage to my liver donor with dream-like imagery and vivid language.
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?
LO: I get obsessed with the color spectrum. So if I'm in a green phase, for example, I'll collect images and words and even clothes associated with the color green. I'll make collages and playlists. And hopefully, I'll write poems associated with this color. I consider this to be a quirk as well as a habit that helps my creativity.
ORP: What books have you read many times?
LO: I teach British literature at a community college, and I re-read (and teach) Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at least once a year. I find something new every time I read it. It was one of my favorite books as a teenager (and still is), and I love getting to share it with students who are often close to the same age Mary Shelley was when she wrote it.
ORP: What do you hope readers (or your audience) will take away from your creative work?
MJM: I hope they will feel a sense of surprise and wonder at what language can do and how it can make them feel. I hope my work will affect them more on a visceral level than an intellectual one.
