A Chat with Alicia Stallings, director of the Muses Workshop at the Athens Center

Lappin:

How long have you been living in Greece?

Alicia Stallings: Twelve years, since 1999. Lappin: And youve been directing the Muses Workshop at the Athens Center for most of that time? Stallings: Ten years now. Previously the program was held on the island of Spetse, but two years ago we moved it to Athens, as the islands were becoming quite expensive. Lappin: Theres an emphasis on myth and mythology in your workshop, which is indeed dedicated to The Muses. Why? Stallings: Because we are in Greece, I wanted to use what was around us. Mythology pervades Greek life. My children are named Jason and Atalanta, and their friends on the playground are named Electra, Andromeda. Its also a way to enter into contact with modern and contemporary Greek poetry: poets like Cavafy and Elytis make use of mythology. And its a key to understanding modern life in Greece. It brings together many elements in the classroom. Many of my students have been writing confessional poetry. For them using myth in different sorts of ways, seeing different examples of myth-based poems, introduces a new dimension, and can help open them up to new subject matter. Lappin: Some people may remember studying the Greek myths or the Odyssey at elementary school, with antiquated Victorian translations, high flown language, or modern bland prose versions. In class you were saying today how important it is to approach this material with fresh eyes and a spirit of innovation. Stallings: In working with myth, you have to feel free to make variations. You dont have to approach the material in a fusty way, or feel reverent and respectful. Ancient writers didnt feel that way. They experimented and could be both playful and raunchy. You can take the standard story and give yourself permission to play with it. The Greek myths are very contemporary. Consider the story of Phaeton and the chariot of the sun. Its the story of a teenager who has been given the keys to his Dads Porsche and doesnt know how to control it. Or take The Odyssey among other things, its the first western. Lappin You say that Greek myths still pervade contemporary Greek consciousness and Greek life. In the current economic and political crisis do you see any myths operating? Stallings Id have to think about this. Lappin: I was thinking the other day about the sacrifice of the young Athenians to the Minotaur Stallings : Actually, that might make a bit of sense There is a resonance of events. You need to read the current crisis against a larger backdrop of modern Greek history: the

founding of the Greek republic, a sort of colonialism that took place. Some people wondered if Greece was ready for democracy. In any case, it is a gerontological society. Young people have no power, no say, little future. Lappin: In your own work, are there myths that have shaped your life or your vision of your art? Stallings: I have written a lot about the underworld. Hades and Persephone. Orpheus and Eurydice. I am fascinated by the Underworld. The classical, pagan view of the afterlife seems much less abstract to me, more real than our Christian heaven and hell. Lappin: I share your fascination. I find your images of the Underworld extremely striking, particularly in Hades Welcomes His Bride and Persephone Writes a Letter to Her Mother in Archaic Smile, or Dogdom of the Dead, and An Ancient Dog Grave Unearthed During the Construction of the Athens Metro. Especially in the first two poems, you give Hades such vivid physical reality, its the world of roots and snakes and burrowing right under our feet. In a forum I found on the Internet, you mention that for awhile you lived in a basement flat, and that this subterranean environment might have unconsciously influenced you. Id be interested in hearing more about your fascination for the underworld and its meanings for you.

Stallings..

Lappin: Youre a classics scholar and a great lover of the Odyssey, which you use in your writing classes at the Muses Workshop. I was wondering how you relate to the theme of exile, or dislocation. Whats the hardest thing you have had to deal with as an expat writer? Stallings: Losing track of American vernacular and being out of touch with popular culture. Youre not watching the same television shows, keeping up with the same trends. Lappin: That might not be bad for an artist. Stallings: Of course, yet sometime I find myself re reading a line I have written and will ask myself , would someone really say that? You have to keep in touch with the language. As an expat and also as a mother you are isolated. Lappin: Elsewhere you have described yourself as a Mommy poet. Stallings: I am. With small children its a struggle to find time and quiet in which to work. Lappin: Do you feel part of the American writing community, the poetry community?

Stallings: With social media, internet, Facebook, Skype, its easy to be included in the conversation and to keep in touch. But its also good to be independent of it all. Lappin: Do you often return to the US?

Stallings: I went four times before June! Twice for work and twice for family. We have our Christmas in the states. Christmas isnt a big deal here in Greece Easter is the major

holiday here. My children enjoy having an American Christmas. In early June I was in Philadelphia ????? where I teach ( at a residency? Conference?) Lappin: Do you ever think of returning to live in the US permanently? Stallings: Sometimes. But I am glad my children are growing up here for the moment. Its like the fifties. Its safe. We live in a neighborhood where people are nosey, they look out for your kids. Children can go to the store and buy milk or go off on their own somewhere without their parents having to be obsessed with crime, worrying about something terrible happening to the children, as happens in the US. Children still have their innocence here. I am also glad they are growing up bilingual. Theyre lucky because theyll have an option. Theres no future for young people here in Greece. Lappin Thats a very strong statement! You dont think the situation might improve? Stallings: It might. It could, but not for the current generation.

Lappin: Do you teach elsewhere in Athens or Greece? Stallings: I run this workshop [normally 3 weeks in summer] and teach at some workshops/ residencies in the US. I do a lot of literary translation, and also some of what I call hack work reviews, articles, essays. I am a professional writer. If someone says, write me a 500 wrd blog on Greek food and pays me, Ill do it. After all, I have to pay my Bulgarian baby sitter who looks after my children when I am teaching or when I need time to write ! But both writing and translation take time and energy away from my main work. Lappin: In this very intense week of the Muses Workshop, weve worked a lot with rhyme and form: sonnets, sestinas, pantoums, villanelles. Would you speak a bit about your emphasis on form in your writing classes? Stallings: Poetry Bootcamp! Many people misunderstand the use of form and think it entails submitting to restrictions. But instead it means giving up control. Not submitting to restrictions, but to destiny or chance that helps choose the next word . Rhyme is also generator of syntax. It helps make lines memorable. Lappin: What writers do you read for inspiration? Stallings: Philip Larkin, Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop, Richard Wilbur, Don Paterson, Seamus Heaney. My favorite poet is A.E. Housman. And ancient writers. Lappin: You have translated both texts of classical antiquity as well as modern Greek poetry, and have received several grants for your translation work. In class you said that translating was a form of very close reading, and a way to know another writers work intimately. Aside from Cavafy or other early modernists, are there any contemporary Greek poets whom you have translated whose work you find especially inspiring? Stalling: .

Lappin: In class, we looked at the many hand written and typed drafts of Elizabeth Bishops famous villanelle, The Art of Losing. (eleven drafts ) Do you think word processing has made the labor of writing poetry easier not having to retype every fresh revision? Do you work with a word processor or write long hand? Stallings: Some people have a fetishistic approach- they have to use a certain pen, etc. I am not like that. People need different things. I write long hand and then on the computer. I actually have some theories about using computers to write poetry. I think that looking at a back-illuminated screen ties up your visual attention in a way that looking at a page doesnt. I always print out and revise on the printed page. Sometimes in revision, you can lose a certain freshness, and if you ve just deleted blocks of text, its hard to go back and find your earlier versions. I tell my students to always keep a copy of their earlier versions. Lappin: Youll be bringing out a new book soon Stallings: Yes, its called OLIVES which can also be O lives [PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE BOOK, PUBLISHER, DATE OF PUBLICATION, BRIEF COMMENT? I looked on amazon and its not up Lappin: A word of advice to writers? Stallings: You have to give yourself permission to write bad poetry. Clean the brown water out and then start over.