Interview with December Artist of the Month, Kesper Wang as told to Andrea Read.
Tell us about your journey as a poet. When did you begin to write? What was your very first poem about?
I’ve written poetry ever since I knew how to write. As a kid, I read picture books of Tang dynasty poets like Li Bai in the original Chinese. My first publication was apparently a poem about a crab in a second-grade anthology. By my teenage years, my poetic output was active, lyrical, and angsty, thanks to influences like T.S. Eliot.
Where did you grow up? What part(s) of your childhood most inform your creative practice?
I grew up in the mid-Atlantic region of the Northeast and moved six times as a child. My nuclear family immigrated from China when I was four, leaving behind our extended family, support network, and culture. Themes of intergenerational trauma, dislocation, forced change and loss permeate my writing, as well as queer friendship and chosen family/ community. I feel like the song “People As Places As People” by Modest Mouse sums up most of my childhood.
Who are your greatest literary touchstones? Which other arts – film, music, visual arts, dance – most influence your own poetry?
Before pursuing poetry, I was a serious musician. The Soviet band Kino has been on repeat for me for months. Lead singer Viktor Tsoi was
the cultural equivalent of Kurt Cobain, dying in 1990 at the age of 28. Next to Kino, I listen to Sanskrit mantras, ancient poetic one-liners that create palpable spiritual resonance through sheer utterance. I regularly think about spiritual texts like the Bhagavad Gita, and unusual psychosocial novels like Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed.
Tell us about your creative process. What motivates you to write, how do you generate new material, and how do you approach revision?
I frequently write while walking. Sometimes I’ll wake up with lines in my head, as if dropped into my dreams, which I’ll jot down as quickly as possible. Revision is a challenge—it’s hard to preserve that initial spark when editing.
How did you find your way to Somerville, and how long have you lived in the city? Tell us about some of your favorite haunts – restaurants, parks, squares, shops, etc?
Recently, I laughed out loud after reading a Globe article about how the British royals were visiting Somerville and locals were concerned
about access to Market Basket. One of the city councilors had tweeted, “I didn’t invite these people.” Moving here four years ago, I had no expectations, but have come to appreciate Union Square Donuts, Veggie Crust, the many free sidewalk items, and the 5-foot clearance local drivers tend to give cyclists.
Do you speak any languages other than English? If so, how does being multilingual expand or otherwise influence your writing?
Though my first language was Mandarin, after moving to America I was forced to adopt English quickly. English is a colonial language, so you have to think about the impact that has on power, perception, and the processing of memory. I’m reading the experimental work Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, which toys with these ideas, and is written in fragmentary English, French, and Korean, accompanied with black and white photos.
What are some of the themes that surface in your poems? What are you most obsessed with as a poet these days?
As a child, I assiduously avoided politics because I didn’t want factors outside of my control to define me. Unfortunately, our world has always politicized identity and attacked authenticity, so I’ve had to accept that the personal is political. I’m trying to regain a connection to my cultural heritage, because when I adopted English, I lost Chinese, thus I lost an ability to perceive. If you have lost parts of yourself for whatever reason, your artistic work will naturally call you to find them.
Are there any projects you’re currently working on that you’d care to share with us?
I’m working on a treatise on revolutionary astrology, which I’d like to publish soon. It’s my first lengthy nonfiction work, and I hope it will be helpful to organizers and advocates who seek societal paradigms that are rooted in tradition yet remain inventive and inclusive.
Email: kesperwang@gmail.com
Website: kesperwang.com
IG: @starlightmagician
