Sonoma County Youth Poet Laureate Lisa Zheng.
Kary Hess: How did you first get involved with the Youth Poet Laureate program, and what was the application or nomination process like?
Lisa Zheng: I knew of the Youth Poet Laureate program because its past two laureates are both also from my high school. At that point, I had participated in two Poetry Out Louds in school, and I found it exhilarating to perform in front of others. I found the application on the California Poets in the Schools website and hesitated for a long time whether to apply or not. But then I chose to shoot my shot, attached three of my poems and sent it off! After a while there was an interview and I was very nervous, but I found my groove again when I began performing one of my poems.
KH: What kind of responsibilities or opportunities come with the title?
LZ: There are so many opportunities that I’m grateful for! I get to attend poetry readings at all sorts of unique and sometimes quaint places, like the back of a silk scarf shop or a warm and cozy cafe. I get to hear professional poets perform their poems in soothing voices or with passionate gestures and I feel myself being moved. It’s a very welcoming space, the literary world. I also get to perform some of my own poems, and it’s a very very cool opportunity to have people hear me and receive feedback. I hope that my poem is also inspiring to at least one person.
KH: How did you first discover poetry? Do you remember the first poem you wrote?
LZ: I think I started writing a lot of poetry during COVID as a way of release. There is a pretty popular music artist (Olivia Rodrigo) who said that she wrote her hits in her bedroom, so I thought I could do the same. At the time, I liked singing some of these poems while I played piano (trying to become Olivia Rodrigo), although singing is probably what others would tell me is my “hidden talent that should stay hidden,” lol. I don’t remember the first poem I wrote; probably something in Chinese when I was very young and my Chinese was more fluent. However, I do remember that the first poem I wrote during COVID was titled 2020 and it’s just this 5-page-long rant about all the devastating events that occurred that year from January to December.
KH: What inspires your writing—whether in your daily life, your community, or the world at large?
LZ: I tend to write poems when I’m very emotional but not always. Heartbreaks are a great source of inspiration. But I also write when I’m angry. Maybe a better word is indignant. There are a lot of issues in the world and I get indignant reading The New York Times or novels or even watching informational YouTube shorts, and I like to write about them. Some of the topics I frequently write about are Asian American stereotypes/hate and mental health. But pretty things are really fun to write too! I like to pick interesting words to use–they’re like shiny gems I can embed in my tapestry.
KH: Do you have a writing routine or ritual? How do poems usually start for you?
LZ: I just open a blank doc and start writing down sentences that sound interesting. These sentences are usually disjointed ideas that aren’t a full poem unless I have a specific theme in mind, otherwise I just go off of what my emotions tell me. Then, after I have enough sentences, I will go through them again and piece them together.
KH: How has growing up in Sonoma County shaped your voice as a poet? Are there local places—natural or cultural—that have found their way into your writing?
LZ: That’s a great question. I think that I’m very inspired peripherally by the beauty of nature here. The vineyards, parks, beaches, and the preserves are scenes that you just can’t get in a city like San Jose. I love the dewy morning chill and the tranquility of my neighborhood, the complete absence of machinery rattling my eardrums besides the occasional lawn mower. It’s an agrarian, but not exactly, place, and there’s so much history I haven’t even touched upon. I think that wondrous beauty is what inspires me to write my happy poems. As for local places, there are lots; even the trail running through my neighborhood is one. Santa Rosa downtown is a bustle of activity: I remember shopping at the mall over my high school years and biking there with my dad on New Year’s Day as a tradition and going to the Pueblo for a date… I also love Bodega Bay and honestly any sort of beach. There’s more, but I can’t list them all!
KH: Have you had mentors, teachers, or local artists who helped shape your journey?
LZ: Shoutout to my sophomore year English teacher Mrs. Henry who was very direct and funny with her critique. She gave me a lot of encouragement during the poetry unit, and I hope that I’m making her proud. Elizabeth Herron and Dave Seter, the former and current poet laureates, are just wonderful. I love Elizabeth’s calm and collected voice and her motherly presence and Dave’s very intellectual poems (he was a civil engineer and I find it very cool how those two pathways intersect). There are many others whom I have met at poetry walks too!
KH: What advice would you give to other young writers or creatives just starting out?
LZ: I would say just don’t force it. Write when you’re feeling something. Like if you’re feeling really lonely or betrayed or indignant, write it out. Unless you have a severe writer’s block, then you gotta force it. Once I had a writer’s block and I just wrote my poem on how creativity works, which I then presented at Dave Seter’s Poet Laureate inauguration (which is hopefully fitting). But yeahhh, just don’t take yourself too seriously and also be open to criticisms because that’s how you improve!
Zheng will be reading at the Petaluma Poetry Walk on Sunday, September 21. For times and locations of each event go to petalumapoetrywalk.org.
AN EXCERPT FROM A POEM
Different Forms of Love
by Lisa Zheng
III. Lao lao (grandmother)
After I was born, my grandmother left behind
A rural province for Beijing’s skyline
40 years of cultivated farmland
my grandfather, her friends
Cannibal hens pecking their own eggs,
Tomato and parsley, cabbage and broccoli
1000 miles / just to take care / of me. (pause)
So much she had to sacrifice.
Rain or shine, always on time
She’d be there beaming when the schoolbell chimed
Hot butter cakes of sesame from China’s rugged streets.
Snuck me sweets secretly when my mother disagreed
She saw all my first crawls, first walks, first words before
My parents who were / always at work.
Until my mom and I left for the new land
The seven years since my birth was held in my grandmother’s hands
IV.
Ba Ba’s distant, gift-laden attempts at connection,
my mother’s demanding, disciplined affection,
and lao lao’s quiet, unconditional protection.
Love’s many languages,
and I am still learning to translate them.
note: “Ba Ba” in part four translates as “Dad.”