Visiting with Naomi Shihab Nye

by Claire Guyton, Art + Life Editor

What’s your best “This is how I got that idea” anecdote?

Janine Pommy Vega, who lives in Woodstock, NY, invited me to visit a prison poetry writing project she has been running for more than twelve years. We drove a very long time to get there, on small dark roads, which all seemed somehow appropriate. I was moved both by her devotion to the men in the workshop and their profound responsiveness to language and the opportunity their own writing gave them to rise out of the grim reality they are living in. To connect to scenes, especially past scenes, that had meaning and beauty for them. To express regret, but much more. They asked me to write a poem for them after I left.

Tell us about your writing process—either generally or specifically with regard to the birth and development of “Maximum Security.”

I take notes. I start small. I build. I cross out.

What is the sound track to your poem “Maximum Security”?

Tom Waits, “Bottom of the World.”

Is there a “writing rule” you never break? One you love to break?

No rules. Just, write all the time. Be modest, brave and hopeful forever.

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