Q&A with poet Shelby Lynn Lanaro

Describe your “writer-self” in three words.

Pensive, calm, resolute.

What is the most challenging aspect about writing for you?

Revising my work objectively. Much of my writing is based on my life or the lives of those around me. Letting go of what is truth for the sake of the poem is challenging but can be crucial. Poetry isn’t non-fiction; not everything needs to or should be absolutely true.

Where, when, and how are you inspired to write?

Usually during the most inopportune moments! The shower, driving, listening to
someone else speak. Pretty much anytime or anywhere that it’s impossible, dangerous, or rude to write! Because of this, I have a lot of notes, phrases, lines, and unfinished poems in my phone for future reference.

What are you reading right now?

Maggie Smith’s Good Bones. I love her voice and how introspective she is in her poetry.

Best piece of writing advice you’ve received?

I was fortunate enough to have three excellent mentors in my MFA program.
These are pieces of advice each of them gave that I still remember today:

“A great line may not always work in this poem, but it might be perfect for
another.” – Vivian Shipley

“Don’t just write a poem, write the poem.” – Jeff Mock

“Find the best line or sentence in whatever you’re writing, then make
everything else better than it.” – Tim Parrish

If you could tell your younger writer-self anything, what would it be?

Don’t worry—you’ll get better!

Which poet or character from a book/movie would you invite to dinner and why?

Mary Oliver. She’s my soul-sister in poetry. There’s a serenity to her writing. She
so harmoniously weaves together the commonalities among humans, nature, and music. When I read her work, I can hear the breeze in the pages behind the poems.

Any advice for budding writers?

Write for the love. Don’t feel badly for not writing every day. Don’t let others tell
you what to write, when to write, or how frequently to write. If you’re writing for others, then how present are you really in your writing? When you’re writing for yourself and others benefit from it, then you’re making genuine connections.

For those who are struggling to publish, my dear friend and fellow poet Katherine Sullivan once told me: Every poem has a home—you just need to be patient enough to find it.

Any words of wisdom for poets who are working on their first chapbook? What was the biggest lesson for you during the process of getting your chapbook together?

Start. Now. There is no perfect time to do anything—least of all to put a book of poetry together when the house needs to be cleaned, laundry needs to be washed, dried, and folded, dinner needs to be cooked, and you need to go to work to make a living and pay the bills.

I sat on starting this book for the better part of a year; I was overwhelmed at the thought of starting and opening a proverbial can of worms that I’d need to eventually close. Covid actually helped me with this because I was working from home for eighteen months. Cutting out commute time and having the ability to work my own hours gave me the time and energy to see Yellowing Photographs all the way through. I’m not going to wait for another pandemic to write my next book, though, and you shouldn’t either!