Abbie Kiefer

Oyster River Pages: Do you consider your writing/artistic time to be work or play?

Abbie Kiefer: It’s work that I feel fortunate to do -- but always work. Writing only feels fun when it’s finished.

ORP: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

AK: That sometimes you just have to let something sit. When I start a poem, I’m excited about all its potential and possibility, and I want to see that possibility though. Immediately. Poems usually don’t care what I want. So when I need to, I put drafts in a drawer and come back to them later--weeks, months, maybe longer. I try to not rush the process.

ORP: Who do you hope reads your work and why?

AK: A lot of people think they can’t understand or won’t enjoy poetry. I want to win over those people.

ORP: What’s next for you artistically?

AK: I’ve been brainstorming for a chapbook -- I love the way a shorter project can present such a focused arc. And I’m working on reading widely, always. There is so much good stuff out there!

Abbie Kiefer is a stay-at-home parent who has also been a journalist and a copywriter. Her poems are forthcoming or have appeared in The Penn Review, The Comstock Review, Iodine Poetry Journal, Coal City Review and other publications. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and sons. Read her poetry here.