'Alien(s)' An Out-Of-This-World Poetry Collection With Yael Aldana
This interview goes lightspeed through the "outer space(s)" of the poet's galactic underbelly regarding relationships with the self and others.
"Alien(s)" takes readers from New York to Miami in its exploration of love. How did these distinct settings shape the emotional and thematic landscape of your collection, and can you share a poem where the geographical backdrop plays a pivotal role in conveying the emotions?
I think that Brooklyn, New York, and Miami have very similar vibes. I was part of the art crowd in both cities, and they both have a type of grittiness.
You need to know both cities to navigate comfortably. I knew Brooklyn a lot better than I know Miami. Although I have lived just north for over twenty years, I still feel like an alien in Miami.
I wrote Miami Map as a love letter to Miami even though I never know what is going on when I’m there.
Miami Map
I know what is going on: he sends me a picture
shirtless lying on his bed, I see his farmer’s tan.Haven’t seen him in four years. My most dangerous ex.
His eyes bottom of the river brown reflecting almost no light.
Eyebrows thick sabled slashes towards those eyes
here is where you die on his altarI meet him at the taco place on 25th Street and 2nd Ave.
I know what’s going on, he leans against me
looking up at the menu deciding what to orderBurrito de pollo? Taco de camarones?
His hand is already between my shoulders
I read him a poem I have writtenWhen I say
how her skin prickles when he puts his hand on her lower back
he moves his hand to my lower back
meta on metaI know what is going on when he easily threads
his dry, smooth fingers between mine in Margaret Peace ParkWe kiss on the corner at North East 17th Street
and North Miami Ave waiting for the light to changeHis tongue feels like velvet and tastes like cigarettes
a flavor I like from my Brooklyn youth.His purple Kangol hat falls down his back and into my hand
He says my mouth tastes like Cocoa Macha ice cream.The light from the street lamp plays in his eyes.
They are a clear sparrow brown.
Your poetry seamlessly merges lyrical elegance with gritty authenticity. How do you decide on the specific tone and language for each poem, and how does this duality contribute to conveying the complexity of relationships and love?
I am a poet that lets the poem take me where it wants to go. I might start a poem with a particular intention. I am always trying to play with form. I might think, in this poem, I am going to write a villanelle.
Then, as I start, the poem begins to go in a different direction and won’t become a villanelle. So, I go with where the poem is leading me.
For instance, with Alien Poem #12, I didn’t intend for it to be so colloquial, but when I tried to make it prettier and lyrical, and it didn’t work, so I stayed with the rawer language in that poem.
Your collection delves into various relationships, such as those with a boyfriend, ex-husband, and soulmate friendships. Could you discuss how you captured the nuances of these connections and how they collectively contribute to the overarching themes of the book?
The collection started when I was with my last boyfriend for the third time. At the beginning of our relationship, we are always at 100%. We get along very well, and things are very intense.
I wanted to capture the feeling and the intensity of our beginning because we always go wrong, which we did and broke up again.
Writing about this relationship created an emotional opening to deal with unresolved emotions about my first marriage that ended years before.
Besides those relationships, I have a very odd, close friendship that resembles a brother-sister relationship. It looks like a normal friendship, but privately, we drive each other crazy.
The way he communicates drives me up the wall. The way I communicate drives him up the wall, and we are always fighting in some way.
But we absolutely love each other in a way we don’t understand. I write about that relationship a lot as a way to process it because it’s so odd.
"Alien(s)" celebrates both the imperfections of love and the confidence that comes with self-discovery. How do you navigate the interplay between embracing vulnerability and portraying the self-assured aspects of identity?
I think the different aspects of vulnerability and confidence come out naturally as I explore these relationships.
To have a successful relationship, you need to be vulnerable but to be a successful human, you must know who you are and be comfortable with your identity.
Relationships push our buttons and our boundaries. These relationships definitely helped me to know who I was. Writing about them helped me make peace with these experiences.
In your poems, love is portrayed with diverse emotional tones, ranging from "sharp bite" to "delicious prickle." What inspired you to encompass such a wide spectrum of emotional expressions, and how does it enhance your exploration of love's intricacies?
I think the emotional range came naturally as I came to write this collection. With the distance of time, I could empathize with my partners and see the behavior that hurt me from a different perspective.
I am now good friends with the muse of this collection. So I could ask him questions about where he was emotionally when we were together.
The fact that we have forgiven each other of the problematic behavior we exhibited let me write with a bit of dispassion. I wasn’t writing from a place of hurt. I would see we were two people trying our best.
As a Caribbean Afro-Latinx writer with indigenous roots, how does your cultural heritage influence your perspective on love, relationships, and self-discovery in your poetry? Are there specific cultural elements that you intentionally infuse into your work?
My heritage is just a part of me, like any writer, I don’t know where it starts and stops. Because I am outside of what most people consider America’s dominant cultural landscape, my heritage is exoticized.
I am also an American woman who grew up in Brooklyn. I think there is a bit of Spanish in the chapbooks, but that is more about me living in Miami.
"Alien(s)" appears as a candid mirror reflecting your vulnerabilities and triumphs. How do you approach the process of unveiling your emotional journey while maintaining an authentic connection with your readers?
I think my ability to lay bare vulnerability is a superpower. Many people spend their time pretending to be badasses with no vulnerabilities and don’t want to deal with other people's weaknesses.
To me, the best poetry bares a poet's soft underbelly. It’s a raw type of honesty I respond to.
I don’t worry about a connection to readers. If they respond, great. If they don’t, that’s life. Poets spend a lifetime finding their readers.
Your personal journey from Barbados to Brooklyn and now South Florida seems to echo in your poetry. How have these diverse locations and experiences shaped your view on love and relationships, and how do they manifest in your unique writing style?
Brooklyn and Miami have unique personalities and are iconic American cities. When you say you are from each place, it piques people’s interest.
In this collection, I got to quickly sketch each city. A ten-story building in Miami will have a different feeling than a ten-story building in Brooklyn.
The arrangement of poems within "Alien(s)" contributes to a cohesive narrative. Could you shed light on your thought process behind organizing the collection and the impact you anticipate it having on readers' engagement?
I was lucky enough to take a class in my MFA about organizing your poetry manuscript for maximum impact and to support your narrative. It was one of the most valuable classes for me.
Whenever I arrange my poems, it is with a larger story arc in mind. I think about how the poem arrangement can build a narrative and create a beginning, middle, and end.
They are arranged so that one poem will lead to the next one.
Poetry often holds transformational power for both the writer and the reader. How were you transformed through the creation of "Alien(s)" and what realizations did you personally uncover? Moreover, how do you hope your readers' perspectives will shift after engaging with your work?
Writing this collection let me finally come to terms with my marriage and the fact that I was the villain in that relationship.
On the other hand, Erik and I came to terms with our complex relationship. He looked at all the poems where he was the subject and gave his blessing to share our private experience.
I hope this collection invites others to honestly explore messy relationships.
So where can we purchase Alien(s), and is there anything else you’d like to share with the readers?
The book was released in August 2023 and is available online at Books and Books: https://shop.booksandbooks.com/book/9781962390002.
I am most active on Instagram @Yaelwrites and my website is YaelAldana.com.