Elizabeth Rosner is the author of two highly acclaimed bestselling novels, The Speed of Light and Blue Nude. Her newest books are Electric City, a novel, and Gravity, a poetry collection (both published this month). Born in Schenectady, NY (aka "Electric City"), she is a graduate of Stanford University, UC Irvine, and the University of Queensland (Australia). She has been living and teaching in Berkeley, CA for 30 years. Her essays and poems have appeared in the NY Times Magazine, Elle, Poetry, Catamaran and many other publications.
An excerpt of her novel, Electric City, appeared in Issue Sixty-Three of The Collagist.
Here, she answers questions in the form of excerpts from her collection of poetry, Gravity.
What is writing like?
When this page fills with charcoal secrets,
I will remember how edges and outlines resonate,
how to bring the scene all the way back.
I will erase this world into light.
What isn’t writing like?
People without freedom
are waiting for answers.
Behind me,
the blue sky whitens.
At this time of day
nothing is longer than a minute,
even when I am finally free of breath.
When you do it, why?
You said it was no way to make a living.
You loved books, but wanted me to use my hands.
I wanted to make something out of nothing,
out of air, words.
When you don’t, why?
this is what I need you to understand
that the grief is part of this scene
it belongs here
and every stone is its own piece
the sharp-edged ones
the cracked, imperfect ones
those shaped like fists or eggs or bones
they speak in the language of the river
AND ALSO:
(there is always a risk
in the naming of
things in the naming
of oneself)