Amy J. Sprague’s Comments

My poems are often never really planned out—I don’t work that way. “A Trauma Theory” came out of nowhere in about twenty minutes, as did “Daddy’s Game,” but “It’s in the Little Pieces” was a process. I guess what I do is find an emotion (especially ambiguous ones) and look to see where it’s coming from—not the feelings but the facts. I juxtapose fact and emotion but the only way I can do that is by walking around in those feelings and facts for however long it takes until it comes spilling out of me. I have little control over what comes out yet I guide it. Ninety-nine percent of the time I put it away (or submit and cross my fingers) and when I come back to it I’m surprised by what’s been written. I’ve found essays and poems in files I forget about until I stumble across them and I vaguely remember writing them. Strange. But true.   

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