Just One Thing with Adele Elise Williams

Adele Elise Williams’ November issue poem “I do not know how to write pretty poems” explores what happens when a writer tries to wrap unpleasant experiences in pretty words. Here Adele shares just one thing about the piece:

“This poem started off easy enough, the way poems sometimes just fall out. And, I do not easily write about my experiences with addiction. In that respect, writing a poem about how I’m not sure how to write about addiction worked well for a stubborn subject. 

So, yes, the poem was easy-going and then took a wrong turn at the ending of the first draft which took me months to rewrite (and write myself out of). Poems take work. For me, they take work! Sometimes they flop out of my mouth all wriggly and mewing and ready to live. Other times, I’ll revise a lifeless poem for months, years. I think it is important to be transparent about our individual creative processes. Or rather, it is important for me to hear how most of us do not write a banger poem every day. That said, I do believe in writing often and with abandon. Maybe that is all I wanted to say here – how wonderful the making is.”