INTERVIEW WITH MIRROR AND MYCELIUM
How old are you?
a loaded pistol in the first frame of the film
What color are your eyes?
shipwrecked chest cast up by sea
Check box for gender:
möbius strip of duct tape growing mold
Where were you born?
a place where three roads meet
To which social class do you belong?
angels shitting on head of pin
Do you have a religion or spiritual practice?
cave protected with biometrics
Can you describe your physical appearance in ten words or less?
…
What are your generational influences?
solar wind and soil
List your ticks and gestures:
salivate, destroy
What are your habits and quirks, your likes and dislikes?
bladders arrive at the tip, from within fuse fast: serving girls drawing water from the well
What is your greatest fear, deepest desire, dearest wish?
nevertheless a form emerges
Rate the degree of your formality of manners on a scale of one through ten:
digest the world as is
Does your voice change in certain situations or around certain people?
talking about individuals doesn’t make sense
Describe your voice in terms of accent, slang usage, dialect, rhythms:
there are more bacteria in gut than stars in galaxy
Does your syntax, diction, and / or word choice change based on who you are addressing?
don’t assume you know where you stop and I begin
Summarize the timbre of your internal voice:
how do you articulate a chemical vocabulary
How are your observational skills on a scale of one to ten?
shopping trip, showdown
What is your level of self awareness and environmental awareness?
how do you insinuate yourself into the thing that feeds you
What is your overall demeanor / general outlook on life look like?
I’m here, I’m here
Gnaomi Siemens is a poet and interdisciplinary literary artist based in New York City, who writes about climate change, culture, and art through a queer, ecofeminist lens. Her work can be found in The Believer, Seneca Review, Portland Review, Oxford Poetry, Poet Lore, and Action, Spectacle, among others in the US and abroad. Her work has been supported by Catamount Arts, The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), The Arctic Circle, Millay Arts, Vermont Studio Center, The British Library, The Poetry Society of New York, American Literary Translators Association (ALTA), and The Council For European Studies. Her first full-length poetry collection, The Errant, was a finalist for both The X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize and The Berkshire Prize.