University of Minnesota – Duluth students in David Beard’s Minnesota Writers class interviewed local writers and wrote spotlight articles that we will showcase in the coming months. First up is poet, instructor, and Lake Superior Writers Board Member, Amy Jo Swing.
Amy Jo Swing, an instructor at Lake Superior College, sat down with me in the Equity and Diversity Center to talk about her poetry featuring Coloring of Monsters, Crossing it Off, and Wordage. What started as an interview turned into a deep and thoughtful conversation diving into the motivations and inspirations of Amy Jo Swing’s work and her upbringing – along with her wisdom and philosophy. I asked her, “In Coloring the Monsters, you focus on emotions and color theory, speaking of love, anger, and the complexity of it all. What compelled you to write this piece?”
“I’ve always been an admirer of art. If you ever go to the Rothko Chapel in Texas (I went to college down there), you’ll find pieces of art that are full of color. I wanted to mix my passion with what I admire, because that’s all art really is.”
The Rothko Chapel (in Houston, Texas), sits as a major work of modern art. Inside, beautiful pieces reign and dominate the walls. Fourteen of Mark Rothko’s paintings are there. The more and more we conversed, the more and more I realized that if Amy Jo Swing hadn’t become an English teacher, she’d surely become a teacher of art. I then asked her about the second poem, Crossing it Off. Or well, tried to. I was flustered in trying to get my words out of my mouth. “In Crossing it Off, you write about a list that packs a punch out of nowhere. Why’d you construct it like that?” A basic question, I was so embarrassed. But I was surprised by Amy’s laugh.
“I wanted to emulate a type of poem where the beginning and end are similar. It’s called a pantoum. At the time, a lot was going on in my life. (I think I was just out of graduate school? I don’t recall completely.) But I wanted to mix in the anxiety of being a woman with the day-to-day shopping list.”
In the poem, Amy Jo Swing sneaks reality into the idea of a shopping list – a metafictional take; a play within a play. The play, of course, is the realistic shopping list that you and I use daily, but Amy Jo Swing adds in a dabble of reality, which does indeed pack a punch when reading it for the first time. The subtle move alludes to the high expectations that society has on women.
Finally, I asked a question concerning Wordage. In the poem, she talks about how she was bullied a lot for not saying words correctly. So I asked, “In Wordage, you talk about how diction and enunciation were of the utmost importance. What would younger-you think if she were to meet present-you and the career you’re in?” This made her genuinely laugh.
“She’d probably think, ‘What on Earth are you doing?’ It’s a bit ironic, I suppose. But at the same time, words have always been important to me.”
Amy Jo Swing’s parents were blue-collar workers and instilled in Amy Jo Swing the importance of education and learning.
I then asked her questions about her process and how she got published.
“Well, I was lucky. I was part of a poetry group at a young age in Alaska, where they treated me like poet, not some kid who liked to write. I never published work myself (I have tried to, but never was able) but I was part of anthologies. Actually, I brought a copy of an anthology I was a part of. Take a look at the names.”
I did. On the minimalist white cover were half a dozen names. I recognized one of them, that being William Krueger, another Minnesotan author. She told me to read the names again, and I did, only to find that she worked with Kate DiCamillo. My favorite childhood author. Amy Jo Swing got to publish poetry alongside Kate DiCamillo. I was floored.
“Okay, now I don’t mean to ask this basic question-”
“I don’t have to answer it,” Amy Jo Swing replied with humor.
“True. But what is your writing process?”
She thought for a moment.
“I’m a collector. I rarely ever sit down and actually write, I like to experience things and if something comes to mind, I’ll write it down. Then, I take what I’ve written down and make something out of it. Poetry is something that comes from the heart. My thesis advisor in graduate school once told me, ‘Writing poetry won’t save your life, but reading it would.’”
Saving a life – taking what we do not know or what hinders us or what angers and saddens us and trying to make sense of it. As Kait Rokowski wrote, “Nothing ever ends poetically. It ends and we turn it into poetry. All that blood was never once beautiful. It was just red.” Amy Jo Swing is a local treasure, taking the chaos around us that is called life and making sense of it. She embodies Walt Whitman’s quote: “We do not read and write poetry because it is cute, we read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion.” She is a captain charting her own course, cutting her own sails, and unabashedly riding the waves.
Joseph Bruce Bussey, Jr. is working on his English degree at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He’s best known for his poetry and essays, receiving praise from scholars and dreamers alike for his adherence and command of words. Talkative and outgoing, Joseph doesn’t shy away from getting to know someone, saying, “Everyone is their own little poem”. Outside of his writing projects, Joseph likes to take long walks in the Lester woods, listen to all kinds of music, and be there for his Lakeside community. Although he has tried to get published, he finds his time better spent sharing his work with friends, family, and online.
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