The Wracked, The Wronged & The Withered: An Interview With May Garner, Author of 'Withered Rising'
This interview is part of Wandering Metaphors' monthly poetry book talk series.
Welcome fellow poetic Wanderers to an enlightening conversation with May Garner, the imaginative mind behind Withered Rising.
Through her debut poetry collection, May paints a vivid journey from darkness to light, exploring personal struggles and the quest for healing. From her roots in online sharing to the emotional depth woven into her verses.
Join us as we uncover the essence of her collection Withered Rising.
Your collection "Withered Rising" delves into personal struggles and the journey toward healing. Could you share a bit about the inspiration behind the title and the central theme of the book?
Funny enough, the title of my book came out of nowhere. I didn’t have an exact plan or process for picking it out.
I believe the way I ended up with it was by taking inspiration from a few different lines and poems I had jotted down in my notes app. There, ‘withered’ and ‘rising’ stood out to me, and I decided to combine them!
I believe the title matches the general theme of the book, which is the aftermath of a withered rising—living a life in which you’re forced to pick up the pieces, push yourself through the darkness, and ultimately find your light worth fighting for.
That is one thing I think most people can relate to; having to pick themselves up from a break and find their purpose.
2. As a debut poetry collection, what was your creative process like in curating and arranging these pieces to convey a narrative of resilience and healing?
My writing style, especially with my poetry, has changed in so many ways since I started writing.
I wanted pieces that truly captured my journey, my story, my hardships, and my healing. I found all of those themes were represented more prominently in pieces written within the last two years.
When curating my debut collection, I chose recent pieces with my current style of writing that covered a variety of emotions, while maintaining the depth I wanted conveyed in the book.
3. Your experiences seem to be a guiding force in this collection. How did your journey shape the poems in "Withered Rising," and what do you hope readers take away from it?
For me, experiences and emotions are everything in writing. Not only in my poetry but in any fictional piece I work on.
I’m typically pulling from my own emotions and experiences to flesh out my characters.
My writing gives my journey and experiences a home, a place to exist other than my mind.
In “Withered Rising”, every poem is me, only in word form. A piece of me lives in every poem I write, which I think can be said for most poets.
Without the experiences I’ve had and the hardships I’ve endured, my poetry would not exist.
I want readers to be able to look at their own experiences and know they can make the very best out of them, even if said experiences are bitter-tasting.
Taking hardships and turning them into art, has been so healing for me. I hope all readers can take a little inspiration from that.
4. Your background in sharing your writing online from a young age is impressive. How has this journey from online sharing to publishing a book influenced your growth as a writer?
Such a crazy, crazy journey! I started sharing my writing on Wattpad at the age of thirteen, an entire decade ago!
I never had a goal in mind to do anything other than write fan fiction and meet a few new friends. Quickly, those goals changed when I realized others were enjoying my work and wanting more.
Over the ten years of sharing my work on Wattpad, I’ve accumulated a community of nearly 30k, and have shared so many different stories with readers from all across the world.
Having that support system at such a young age helped shape my goals early on and helped me understand what I wanted out of writing.
Since I have been sharing my work online for so long, I believe that has been a beneficial factor, making it a smoother transition to sharing my work on Instagram and as a published book.
Having a safe space to share my writing allowed me to explore so many different genres, and gave me the ability to practice my craft for years. Without it, I doubt I would have accomplished as much as I have.
I’ve always said, that if I hadn’t found Wattpad, I most likely wouldn’t be writing today. Let alone, I wouldn’t have a book out!
5. The themes of heartbreak and finding light in darkness are prevalent in your poetry. How do you navigate the balance between expressing pain and offering hope in your work?
For me, I find it incredibly hard to express hope in my work at times, which can make the balance between pain and hope difficult to maintain.
Oftentimes, the pain overrides the hope, which is needed from piece to piece. I always try to leave a poem off on a hopeful note or allude to hope if it’s appropriate for the tone or message of the poem.
Sometimes, I just settle with the fact that a poem is very bitter with no hope left to find, and I call it a day.
6. Your affinity for the "horrifying, mysterious, and melancholic" is evident in your poetry. How do these elements manifest in "Withered Rising," and how do they contribute to the emotional depth of your writing?
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always carried those three words with me. They’re a part of me as much as they’re a part of my writing.
I’ve always described my writing as horrifying, mysterious, and melancholic because those are three words that have always come to mind regarding my writing. They’re the three emotions that naturally spill out when I write.
I would say that’s exactly how they contribute to the emotional depth of my writing. They’re naturally placed in my pieces and never forced.
I don’t typically need to set my mood or darken it to write the pieces that I create; that darkness is always there.
7. In "Withered Rising," you share deeply personal experiences and emotions. Could you highlight a particular poem or passage that holds significant meaning for you, and explain why it resonates so profoundly in your journey as a writer and as an individual?
The passage that holds the most significant meaning to me is from the poem titled, “Tales of a Liar” on pages 16-18.
“I cannot recall a time I could breathe clearly, let alone a time where there was not cotton and mud-caked at the back of my throat. Now, though, the air is easy and a breath passes between the two of us, single in its arrival, spared by two sets of lungs working their way through chests for the same heartbeat. You have wrung the tales of liars right out of my mouth.”
This is from a poem I wrote for my boyfriend, Nathaniel. I’ve always looked at this piece as a reflection of what I was once used to and what I’ve grown to know. I hadn’t experienced a healthy, loving relationship until I met him.
Much like the poem states, I’d only been dealt tales from liars. This piece captures the moment in which I realized I didn’t have to accept those lies and the bare minimum that came with them.
8. "Withered Rising" is your debut collection. What challenges did you face in bringing this book to life, and how did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge in bringing this book to life had to be none other than myself. I tend to doubt myself and my work at times, another thing that I think most creatives, let alone humans in general deal with.
When given a lot of creative opportunities, I’ve held myself back or criticized myself to the point of no return.
I had a lot of support from my family, friends, and significant other while putting this collection together, which I believe is the main reason it exists. They didn’t give up on me, so I couldn’t give up on my goal.
A big step in starting a journey, whether it’s publishing a book or just trying something new, is to constantly remind yourself that you must start somewhere and that things can only go up.
9. Music seems to be a significant part of your life. How does your love for early 2000s rock bands influence your writing process, if at all?
Yes! I love music. While most of my writing is done in silence, there are a few moments here and there where I’m in a space where I can listen to music and write at the same time.
That, the majority of the time, is early 2000s rock bands.
I would say the rock genre has played a significant role in not only my writing process but also how I express my emotions and understand them.
One of the first bands I was introduced to growing up was Shinedown, an absolute favorite of mine. Their poetic lyrics and heart-wrenching emotions spoke to me as a child, even when I hadn’t experienced any of the heavy topics they were singing about.
I’ve taken that process of understanding lyrics and emotions into my writing, especially with my poetry.
10. Having been published previously in student poetry anthologies, how has your writing evolved from those earlier works to "Withered Rising," and what new directions do you envision for your future writing projects?
My writing now compared to then is night and day! When I was first published through The American Library of Poetry in high school, I was only a few years into my experience with poetry.
I started writing poetry when I was sixteen, then continued to be published in said anthologies within the following two years.
The poems I had published in each anthology were written for a high school English assignment with a prompt. I didn’t have the creative freedom with those pieces that I now have in my poetry.
I also didn’t have the range of emotions or depth that I carry in my writing now.
My goal with future projects is to ultimately make them bigger and better.
The fun thing about writing is you can always improve, shift, and change with it, so I’m hoping to learn more about the craft as I move toward my next project.
I hope to start outlining my second book here soon!
“Withered Rising” can be purchased in paperback on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The ebook is available on BookLeaf Publishing’s online bookstore!
Find all of May’s social links here: