Ivi Hua
 

“There are very few other tools of language that are as versatile as words, and I love stringing together these sentences and images that become exactly what I want them to be.”

The editors of Eucalyptus Lit recently had the privilege and opportunity to speak with Ivi Hua, poetry runner-up of Eucalyptus Lit's inaugural summer contest. Her work “WE CAN TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER” features in Issue 5, Bequest.

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This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

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How did you start writing?

While I dabbled in short stories and other forms of prose throughout my childhood, I didn’t really get into poetry until middle school—in 6th grade, I took a poetry elective class, and it completely changed my worldview. I really fell in love with the form, and I just kept writing poems after the class was over. They weren’t necessarily good, but they were genuine expressions of my emotions, and I’d never really had an outlet like that before.

I later started a writing Instagram, or a “writergram,” which really propelled me to put my pieces out into the world and take my creative work seriously. It was definitely during that period of time that I started considering myself a true creative writer and poet. I don’t really post as often there now, but that community holds a special place in my heart. 

Why do you write?

I write to bring my voice into the world. I’ve always struggled a little bit with expressing the sheer chaos of emotion I often feel, and poetry is a way for me to put the truths of my lived experiences and perspective out there—of course, not everything I write is nonfiction, but all of my work is grounded in the idea of saying something that is important to me and my perspective. I also think I write because it is so uniquely fun and meaningful. There are very few other tools of language that are as versatile as words, and I love stringing together these sentences and images that become exactly what I want them to be. There’s definitely a sense of connection with the world that I get when I have a published poem or share a poem I’m working on with others. 

How do you get your inspiration? What is your creative process?

During the better times in my creative process, I find inspiration anywhere and everywhere. I especially draw from my feelings and fixations—so there’s a lot of love and angst in my poetry, but also random biology and scientific terminology woven into my poetry. I also think immersion in literature is so important—I love to read the works of other poets, especially those I’m in community with. When my inspiration seems to run dry, I often find myself going back to poems by other poets. I revisit pieces I love, as well as explore the vast range of pieces various literary magazines (like Eucalyptus!) have to offer. I find that my work is at its best when I am both inspired & in harmony with myself, which is to say I am at my best when I know what I want to say & how I want to say it.

In terms of creative process, I mostly work with Google Docs. My handwriting is basically illegible when I start writing fast, and I find that putting things down digitally makes me take it a little more seriously. I think it makes the words feel more tangible. I try to write whenever I have inspiration, but also regularly as a habit. Sometimes, I find that I have a lot to say that I didn’t even realize until I sit down and start writing. I like to write with music because it keeps my brain at what seems to be the optimal level of stimulation, and I’ll sit down and try to put some lines out onto the page for anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. I typically let drafts sit for a while before I revise them, and then I go back in and make changes based on my preferences. I’m a sucker for form and visual presentation, so I normally do a lot of work with formatting between the first and second drafts. Lately, I’ve also been focusing on specificity and trying to condense what I’m trying to say in the least amount of words possible. Once I feel like a poem resonates the way  I want it to, I’ll send it out into the world or just stop working on it. 

Can you tell us a little bit about your winning poem, WE CAN TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER?

WE CAN TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER is one of my favorite poems about love I’ve ever written. Huge shoutout to Monica Heisey, whose book Really Good, Actually had some of the vibes that I was really channeling throughout this piece. The book was centered around the main character’s heartbreak and divorce, and while none of the lines in the poem are a direct reference to anything that happened there, I found myself really thinking back to the ways that I felt when experiencing the story almost subconsciously when I was writing. I actually didn’t put the poem as an after poem in the beginning, but after writing it in about an hour in a daze I came back to it and realized that my reading of Heisey’s novel really influenced the tonality and perspective that I approached the piece with. I really enjoyed the book, and I’d definitely recommend to anyone looking for a genuine, chaotic and beautiful novel about heartbreak and its consequences.

Really though, beyond its influences, WE CAN TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER is a poem about love and the navigation of its aftermath. I think I’ve always obsessed over endings—whether it be because I struggled with closure and change or because of their inevitability—and this poem was a means of expressing that feeling. I tried to channel specificity into the domestic descriptions (“the half-peeled apple,” “the tiles above the kitchen sink,” etc.) in order to build a scene surrounding the heartbreak that the poem features at its core. I’m truly honored that this piece was selected—it’s definitely one that’s really close to my heart, and I’m delighted that I get to share it with the world through Eucalyptus. 

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We saw that your debut chapbook, Body, Dissected, was recently published by Kith Books. Could you tell us a little about your inspiration? What was the writing and compilation process like?

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I’d love to! Body, Dissected was one of my absolute favorite projects to work on, especially with kith. wim blair of kith books, my editor, was instrumental to putting the chapbook together, and I’m so proud of the work that we’ve put out together. 

Around three years after I started creatively writing seriously, I started to think about putting together a longer-length work. Especially because I feel like I–and many other poets–tend to gravitate towards certain ideas and themes throughout their poetry, by that time I had enough pieces that I found that I could put them together into a microchap of sorts. I compiled that initial microchap for a marching band project, actually, and then the longer form of the chapbook was submitted to kith a full year later. 

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In terms of the content itself, I already had a majority of the pieces I wanted to put into my chapbook written. For the most part, it was a matter of compilation. Later, as I began to really get into the flow and structure of the book, I began to write poems for the chapbook specifically. If the piece has a title that’s a body part, like “eyes” or “mouth & throat,” I probably wrote it specifically for Body, Dissected. Those pieces were the last element that really tied the whole book together for me. 

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If you’d like to order my book in print or pdf, those are still selling at kithbooks.com! Additionally, I talked quite a bit with Ottavia Paluch about Body, Dissected, so you can check out that interview for a deeper dive into my writing process for the chap. 

Yes! Check it out here: https://ottavia.substack.com/p/ivi-hua 

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Do you have any advice for young writers?

For me, the one thing I wish was emphasized most to me when I started creative writing seriously was to just have fun with it and love it. It’s such a cliche answer, but in the increasingly competitive world of poetry and creative writing as a whole, I feel like a lot of younger poets are entering the space pressured to chase after prestige instead of explore. All of my best work has been a product of having experimentation and fun with this art form that I love so dearly. Oftentimes, it’s only when I really let myself write and sink into the art form that I write pieces that end up receiving recognition anyways, so I don’t think there’s any negative drawback to following your heart and creative inclinations. 

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I also think that finding your community and people are so important. I run a creative writing community called Young Poets Workshops, and I’ve formed truly beautiful, generative bonds through that platform. I would not be the writer and person I am today without the influence of my collaborators and fellow young writers. 

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Ultimately, though, I think everybody is just figuring this writing thing out as we go, and that’s okay! Remember that doubt and uncertainty are key aspects of growth.

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