Q&A with Micro-Anthology Contributors

Miracle Monocle has released the fifth installment in our micro-anthology series, A Little Sugar in the Tank. The book represents the first collaboration between the journal and PubLab, a new initiative pairing students interested in working in the fields of writing, editing, and publishing with projects that will give them a one-of-kind hands-on experience with bringing a book into being. One of our three PubLab fellows this year, Lizzy Roth, has stepped forward to conduct interviews with some of our wonderful contributors. We’re hoping that their words of wisdom and inspiration convince you to click through and order your copy of the book, which is now available in print and digital format.

Lizzy Roth: When you think about your piece what are the first things that come to mind?

Kale Hensley: I, for some reason, always return to the memory of being on a Bible Trivia Team as a child. It was a very serious endeavor and we would even compete against other children who studied their verses (and by verses, I mean a thick, spiral-bound workbook). There were even red buzzers that we were supposed to hit when we knew the question. I think at my first competition I could only answer one question because I was so nervous. But from this experience, I retained a lot of minute details from the Bible that many other Christians do not really know (don’t worry, I quiz them). Like who fell out of a window on the day of Pentecost? Eutychus, duh.

LR: What is your favorite aspect of your piece?

KH: The voice that emerges in this piece is perhaps my favorite component. You can hear the exhaustion coupled with suggestiveness–like yes, I know what happens, but couldn’t we interpret it like this? I have found poetry to be a place where I can ask questions that may be blasphemous or, in reality, are actually just progressive. I recall asking my mother as a girl why we could not wear pants to church (old-school Pentecostals) and her response was for me to be quiet. But I was insatiable and needed to understand why, when reading between the lines, some things just did not sit right. The voice of this piece finds its power in interrogating the reader, a process which is not meant to be accusative but rather implicative. 

LR: Can you describe the process behind crafting this piece?

KH: I just followed the rhyme to craft this piece. If you notice, the perfect rhymes are enjambed and not so obvious unless the poem is read aloud. I believe too I wanted it to feel intimate, thus the disclaimer to earn the trust of the reader. Trust is essential because some of the claims which follow could be interpreted as off-putting (but I just say some people are not ready for camp). No matter which, the perspective that emerges is necessary; there is a visual tug-of-war between the dominant interpretation of the Bible and the tongue of a speaker who is not afraid to question it, revise it, and illuminate the feminine. 

LR: How does this piece fit into your larger body of work (theme, form, etc.)?

KH: Much of my work is obsessed with mysticism. This ideology repaired my relationship with Christianity and provided me the agency to queer my own approaches to religion. Tonally, the defiance of this poem aligns well with my poem “The Rest Cure for Common Whores” in Evergreen Review and “Salome in Tritina” in Sonora Review. The speakers of these poems use irreverence to discuss injustices toward the feminine. They complicate what we understand to be wickedness and where we can find it. Nowadays, it is primarily inside the church.