From the Writing Table of Leia Penina Wilson
1. Yes—table. Fuck a desk.
2. Candles. It’s dark outside. Outside the frame of this picture: a lamp, two windows, eventually some outside light.
3. Pile of research related books. I take a long time to think about a thing so these will vary, and the pile will become more and more unkept, accrue. Right now there’s—a book on witchcraft and sorcery; a guide to fish in Samoa; Transformations of Circe; Greek and Roman Necromancy; Joyelle McSweeney’s The Necropastoral: Poetry, Media, Occults; Meena Alexander’s Poetics of Dislocation; Pacific Island Legends; and Maria Negroni’s Dark Museum (translated by Michelle Gil-Montero).
4. A foldy thing with pictures. Angels or some Renaissance-ish picture. I don’t know anything about art, I just liked it. Found when thrifting with my mom and brother—it was hard to pass up. I have a difficult time passing up weird or ugly things. I just got a sweater (that I love) I’m pretty positive is ugly. But I texted my best friend. And she texted back, buy it. And I did.
5. On top of the foldy thing: some pages from Endymion I ripped out of the book to carry around, a Harry Potter bookmark. Nearby: post-it tabs.
6. This is some butcher paper I’m writing a poem on. It’s easy to fold up and carry. I like to doodle and collage. Somewhere, there’s a notebook of snail portraits. I like to chart things, sort of. I like arrows. I like that the paper is sprawl—you know, it comes in rolls. It’s easier to imagine formlessness, form. So you can have as much or as little of it as you want. It doesn’t have to be rectangular or page shaped or whatever.
7. Crochet-Octopus, gifted.
8. My Olivia Voldaren EDH deck. This was my first and is my favorite commander. Black and red, my favorite color combo. My other favorites are Sigarda, Host of Herons; Aurelia, the Warleader; Sharuum the Hegemon; and one of my newer ones: Mogis, God of Slaughter. This is pretty much my personality.
9. Underneath: pile of postcards with images I liked from museums or bookstores or wherever; some scratch paper; pieces of cardstock or stickers.
10. Tiny, squishy cat. This cat and the other cats in the bag, also gifted.
11. Fox-dog bag of pens, tape, pencils, hairbands, a Band-Aid, more squishy cats. I like pens, the blue one is a .4 (which is my new fav), the pink one a .3, and I misplaced my purple .7 Papermate Inkjoy. I think that was what it was called. It had a rounded tip and was clicky. I’ve never liked a clicky pen before.
12. Rakdos’ Signet. A pin.
13. My writing board, gifted, four years ago-ish. I move around when I’m writing, and I like to take the writing with me, so the board makes that easy. It’s like I’m going out, but I never have to go out. I like to do things literally sometimes, so when I need to, I can literally set the writing aside and use the table for anything else, usually eating or doodling. I don’t grade or do non-poem work at the table, ever. That’s a rule I made for myself when I found my teaching life bleeding too much into my poem life. I’m jealous of people who can do those things seamlessly.
14. Sailor Moon Tarot, gifted from my brother a couple Xmas’ ago. I love Sailor Moon and tarot. I have a few decks, but this is my favorite. This morning’s cards are Hierophant, Hanged Man, Chariot.
15. Draco Malfoy’s wand. I don’t care about Draco Malfoy, but this was a surprise-wand-Harry-Potter-stocking-stuffer last year. Everyone got one, it was a fun time. There was also a bookmark. I like bookmarks.
16. My next notebook. I don’t like feeling the end of something so I always keep at least one more than I need notebook around. And usually, a pile of to-be-read weekend books that are on the bed right now. I like to only plan two books-ish ahead because two books feels doable, I guess. This weekend I have some poeming to do so I’ve set the reading aside.
17. Framed cunt. Hand-stitched and 3D-printed, also gifted.
18. Vaseline.
19. A red fish with a smaller red fish inside, gifted. I call this fish Herman or Fishy or Red Fish or Mean Fun.
20. These green ball things with gold fish on them. My mom bought these for us (brother & two sisters) once on a trip to the Blue Ridge mall when it was still around, when I was much younger, like when I barely existed young. I’ve had them for a very long time. They’ve gone with me to Kirksville, Tuscaloosa, Las Vegas, Albion, and now Pittsburgh.
Not Pictured
21. Just out of the frame of this picture, on a ledge, is Goliath from Gargoyles. This is a toy my brother has had since childhood; he lets me borrow it every now and then. It goes home every holiday.
22. Underneath the ledge: piles of drafts, notes on purple paper, sharpies (I like to doodle).
23. Just out of the frame too, my computer. I don’t use it until after I’ve already written the poems. I’m obsessive so it’s easier to do the work of the poem if I don’t have a laptop, easier for me to revise too, to imagine outside the limits of the page, in terms of form, idk. It’s easier to explain the obsessive by showing you, but I won’t—I just have to write the poems out. I get stuck sometimes, and I have to write the poem over under it’s unstuck. I suppose it ends up on the page anyway. But anytime you read my poems, I’d really like it if you read them out loud.
24. Also, usually a mug. My favorites are: this cool mug I got for my 18th birthday from my mom; hot broody vamp mug; CUNT mug; tall fox mug from Kentuck; new rose mug from a Pittsburgh craft fest very similar to Kentuck.
25. I have a lot of stuffed animals that are usually around when I’m writing, sometimes other toys. I have this horse with a horse inside it with another horse and still, a smaller horse (though it makes this horrible high-pitched sound when you pull it apart); a faceless little creature with an ax; a Skeletor puzzle that’s not put together; some Magic pre-cons; some dice; this cool life counter that’s a wizard holding an orb (from a D&D game I think, I traded a guy this unusable Conspiracy draft pic for it ha).
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Splinters Are Children of Wood is Leia Penina Wilson's second collection and winner of the Ernest Sandeen Prize in Poetry. It is available now from the University of Notre Dame Press. Her first book, i built a boat with all the towels in your closet (and will let you drown), is available from Red Hen Press.