Amy Lee is a lawyer based in Seattle. She holds a BA (Govt)/LLB, UQ, a LLM from The University of Melbourne. She is currently the Managing Editor of Quail Bell Magazine, a NYC based progressive feminist digital platform. Her work has been published in Canada, UK, Australia, Taiwan and USA. She continues to fight against racism and sexism & recently co-founded the Go Fund Me project which saved Bruce Lee’s Warrior TV Series for S3 now on Netflix.
You can read her poem Some of Us are Destined to Always Say Goodbye in the April 2024 issue.
Would you like to tell us a little bit more about your poem? For instance, how or why you wrote it, or perhaps provide some extra context?
I was rewatching the Bruce Lee inspired TV show, ‘Warrior’ and realised the misogyny and violence against Asian women is so historically entrenched. Then the Atlanta spa massacre happened and it really hit me hard. This got me thinking about my childhood, my journey as an Asian woman living in a Western country and how I’ve had to say goodbyes so many times for so many different reasons.
How or where or with what does a poem begin?
Sometimes I see a picture or hear a line from a song or read a line from a book/poem or engage in a conversation and that thought hits me. It stays with me, swimming deep in my thoughts. It might not come to fruition in any form. But it usually gravitates me towards a certain emotion and perspective that propels me to write it down.
What are you reading or watching or listening to lately that intrigues or inspires you?
I really enjoyed reading, ‘Nightswim’ by Joan Kwon Glass. There is so much grief in this poetry collection yet it is so well articulated and expressed that you get a sense of light towards the end. I try to write about grief, hope and healing.
Have you ever received advice (or has there been something you’ve learned on your own) about writing or revising poems that has made you a better poet? What was it?
Don’t hurry a poem. The first draft you write might not always end up as the poem you thought it would be and that is okay.
Do you belong to a writer’s group? If not, where do you find poetry community and feedback?
I join poetry classes online and or poetry readings/ book launches via Zoom that I find through Facebook. I just joined Two Sylvias Press’s Weekly Muse and have found this online community group incredibly knowledgeable and helpful.
How did you begin writing poetry? Was there a specific inspiration or reason?
I always thought I’d be more of a prose person, to be honest. But when the Covid and anti-Asian hate crimes started, I felt an immense sense of grief and emotions. I surprised myself when I discovered poetry turned out to be the best way for me to express these thoughts.
In terms of poetic style or craft, is there a big question you are trying to find an answer for?
I tend not to put any big question when I am writing. I just experiment, test and play with what I’ve written down several times and see where that takes me.