Jessica Lee McMillan (she/her) is a poet and teacher with an MA in English and Creative Writing Certificate from Simon Fraser University’s The Writer’s Studio. Read her recent/forthcoming poems in The Malahat Review, QWERTY, The New Quarterly, Funicular, and Rose Garden Press and Crab Creek Review. Jessica lives on the land of the Halkomelem-speaking Peoples (New Westminster, BC) with her little family and large dog. jessicaleemcmillan.com
You can read Outpatient in the October 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?
Outpatient is a quirkier offshoot of my poems that question how to be an individual and part of something bigger–specifically connecting to nature during the Anthropocene. It obliquely refers to William Blake’s line “To see a World in a Grain of Sand” in the poem “Auguries of Innocence.”
Why was the poetic form the best fit for this particular piece of work?
This poem moves through many different spaces and needed shorter lines to sharpen each image. Thematically, the poem could not allow for separate stanzas. The micro and macro are happening in the same “room”.
Do you have a collection of poetry or even a single poem that acts as a touchstone?
Lately, I come back to poems where humour has found a natural place. From my recent manuscript, poems like “Avocado,” “Transformer Stone” and “I Build a Monolith” have a touch of humour that releases the weight of the poem or introduces wry observations that are really a surrendering to life’s terms.
If you didn’t write poetry, how do you think you might access the same fulfillments that poetry offers in your life?
I have formal training in painting and come back to it after long stretches. My approach to painting is more visceral and intuitive and I give it less formal limits, which is a great complement to poetry, which asks me to hone my diction more concretely. That being said, the rhythm and slant rhyme in my poetry is entirely intuitive and based in sound. Perhaps I am painting when I am writing.
As a poet, what does creative success or achievement look like for you?
Poetry as a vocation involves diligence and daily work, so the reward for me is feeling connected to the poetry community. If I am swapping poems/books/prompts with poets, cheering them on, going to readings, getting the occasional invitation and spot in the journals I love, I am where I want to be.
How do you make space for poetry in your daily routine?
As a working mother, being a poet is enmeshed in everyday life. There are no residencies or retreats when you are the family manager. Accepting there is no separation has stopped my struggle to find the perfect time to write. Momentum is much more important. Even if it is writing one line. My life is the medium and any moment is open for poetic witness. I also have to give credit to my child who is an endless source of inspiration. I jot down ideas daily and transcribe at night. Depending on my energy levels, I either draft, edit or do “poetry admin” when my family is asleep.