AUTHOR PROFILE
Leslie Hodge lives in San Diego with her husband Bill and mini-dachshund Audrey Dog. Years ago, she graduated from Stanford with a BA in English and Creative Writing. Leslie then worked in business, including at Arthur Andersen & Co., Pacific Southwest Airlines, and Qualcomm. After retiring in late 2018, Leslie wanted to attend the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. When she heard they had open mic options, she felt she must write a poem to read, so she did. “I Am Not a Cowgirl” is the poem that started it all.
Leslie participated in the UCSD Osher program, Writers Workshop, where she met poets who are friends to this day. She then enrolled in a Poetry Certificate program at San Diego Writers, Ink, studying with the city’s first Poet Laureate, Ron Salisbury. Upon completion in 2021, she co-founded The Poetry Salon with fellow poets. The Salon continues meeting weekly by Zoom, for poetry read-and-critique and to share submission possibilities and acceptances. Leslie’s poems appear in Catamaran Literary Reader, ONE ART, The Muleskinner Journal, The Main Street Rag, South Florida Poetry Journal, The Journal of Undiscovered Poets, SPANK the CARP, Your Daily Poem, and elsewhere. Recently, her chapbook, ESCAPE and other poems, was published by Kelsay Books. Visit her at www.lesliehodgepoet.com. |
Leslie's work appeared in Pond 82
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Why do you write?
I write poems to try to make sense of my life in a way that resonates with others. My immediate and extended family includes a bunch of story tellers. Many of their stories, and my own, end up in my poems as a close-to-true re-telling, or provide the key idea, the spark, for a poem. As an example, my first poem in SPANK the CARP, “Christmas Tree” (Pond 68), is based on a true story told to me by my mother. I would say my poems are more autobiographical than not, and mainly narrative. Perhaps that’s true of most poets.
What other creative activities are you involved in?
I’m sorry to say that I’m not currently involved in other creative activities. Covid is my excuse – after retiring, my husband and I briefly traveled a lot, nine trips in 2019. Some were short! And we’d planned to travel a lot more. But given our circumstances, Covid became the reason for staying home-bound. And being home-bound was a facilitator for focusing on poetry – writing, classes, Zoom conferences, the weekly Poetry Salon. Recently, we have traveled some, and I hope to do more soon.
Who is your favorite author and why?
My all-time favorite author is William Faulkner. I started reading him in high school and read all of his books that were in our local library. And I’ve re-read him often, and taken a class on his novels. Standouts for me include Absolom, Absolom, The Bear, The Sound and the Fury, The Reivers, Intruder in the Dust, and the fabulously funny short story, “Was.”
For me, the “why” is simple – the language.
Besides Faulkner, I’m also a fan of the other Early Twentieth Century masters: Fitzgerald and Hemingway. I can’t think of any modern writers who have touched me so deeply.
My all-time favorite poets are Yeats and Frost, again for the language. For contemporary poets, my favorites are Michael Mark, Taylor Byas, TR Poulson, Faith Shearin, Alison Luterman, Rebecca Foust, and Julia B. Levine.
For me, the “why” is simple – the language.
Besides Faulkner, I’m also a fan of the other Early Twentieth Century masters: Fitzgerald and Hemingway. I can’t think of any modern writers who have touched me so deeply.
My all-time favorite poets are Yeats and Frost, again for the language. For contemporary poets, my favorites are Michael Mark, Taylor Byas, TR Poulson, Faith Shearin, Alison Luterman, Rebecca Foust, and Julia B. Levine.
Tell us about the mechanics of how you write.
Usually, I start with a memory of something I did, observed, or experienced. I hand-write free-form thoughts, ideas, images, phrases, in a notebook. Then I type it up using Word.
Using my laptop, I revise the poem several times before sharing it with The Salon or James Toupin, a super-helpful poet friend and author of a just-released book, Upon the Century Called American (Main Street Rag). I take careful notes of their feedback and debate with myself on what to incorporate.
Usually, I keep all the versions of the poem in one Word document, starting with the original, then adding a new page at the top of the document for the next version, etc. Often, in the same document I keep my notes of what worked or didn’t work for the reviewers. As an example, one poem-in-progress is now in a document of 19 pages, including six versions of the poem plus notes from read-and-critique with three groups.
I submit a lot, so if a poem I love isn’t accepted after a period of time, I may try totally changing the point-of-view, the timeline, or the form, e.g., transforming a free verse poem into a set of sonnets. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Using my laptop, I revise the poem several times before sharing it with The Salon or James Toupin, a super-helpful poet friend and author of a just-released book, Upon the Century Called American (Main Street Rag). I take careful notes of their feedback and debate with myself on what to incorporate.
Usually, I keep all the versions of the poem in one Word document, starting with the original, then adding a new page at the top of the document for the next version, etc. Often, in the same document I keep my notes of what worked or didn’t work for the reviewers. As an example, one poem-in-progress is now in a document of 19 pages, including six versions of the poem plus notes from read-and-critique with three groups.
I submit a lot, so if a poem I love isn’t accepted after a period of time, I may try totally changing the point-of-view, the timeline, or the form, e.g., transforming a free verse poem into a set of sonnets. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Finally, what do you think about Carp, the fish, not our website?
CARP
I see Carp indolently swimming
in the ponds at the Japanese Friendship Garden,
at San Diego’s Balboa Park. Showing off,
she swims crawl, side stroke, backstroke, side stroke, etc.,
thereby moving her small, torpedo-shaped body
in a continuous spin. In spring,
when the cherry blossoms are blooming,
there are many surprise engagements
and hidden photographers, and Carp pays attention.
Pretending to nibble on the slender grass
growing in the water, she edges closer to the action.
Many couples are surprised to see her fin
raised encouragingly, just a tiny dot
of orange, in a lower corner of their photos.
I see Carp indolently swimming
in the ponds at the Japanese Friendship Garden,
at San Diego’s Balboa Park. Showing off,
she swims crawl, side stroke, backstroke, side stroke, etc.,
thereby moving her small, torpedo-shaped body
in a continuous spin. In spring,
when the cherry blossoms are blooming,
there are many surprise engagements
and hidden photographers, and Carp pays attention.
Pretending to nibble on the slender grass
growing in the water, she edges closer to the action.
Many couples are surprised to see her fin
raised encouragingly, just a tiny dot
of orange, in a lower corner of their photos.