A Lot Of Myself Revealed: An Interview with Sophie Crocker
“I want [readers] to take away a sense of hope, understanding, and empathy. I want them to want to write!” – Sophie Crocker
Jaclyn Desforges interviews Sophie Crocker about their debut collection, Brat (Gordon Hill Press, 2022).
Sophie Crocker (they/she) is a queer writer, performer, and editor based on unceded Songhees, Esquimalt and WSÁNEĆ land and raised on the traditional territories of the Mi’kmaq and Beothuk Peoples. They hold a BFA in creative writing from University of Victoria. Their poetry and fiction have been published internationally.
Sophie Crocker. Brat. Gordon Hill Press, $20.00, 76 pp., ISBN: 9781774220641.
Tell me about Brat’s (incredible!) cover. How did the cover design come to be? How does it relate to your poetry?
Brutus O’Gorman (@left_egg) designed the cover. He actually designed a tattoo for me, so I knew I could completely trust him as an artist since I have his work on my body. For the cover, I wanted the image of the bunny girl (as in the poem “self-portrait as angel baby”) to be based loosely on me so that it would go with the “portrait” poems. I had the idea to have her freeing a rat from a rat king, since I thought that that would represent the brutality-for-freedom idea that runs through the whole book. Brutus’ cover design completely surpassed everything I hoped for. The team at Gordon Hill Press was also amazing. They gave both of us so much creative freedom with the cover design. I’m thrilled with how it turned out. Those colours! That detail! In a lot of ways, it’s more playful and vibrant than many poetry book covers are, which I love. I think it perfectly suits the book.
Brat includes a series of astrological poems, including my favourite, “self-portrait in virgo.” What are your thoughts on astrology and how it connects to poetry? What was the process like, writing your astrological poems?
I think astrology has some truth to it. If you’re born in the spring, you spend your early months growing up in sunlight, and you’ve had more time to develop than some other kids in your grade. Things like that – factors that affect how you grow. And reading your horoscope can confirm things you already know. Or if your horoscope feels wrong, at least you feel yourself respond to that, and then you know something new about yourself. It’s like when you flip a coin and you know, while it’s still in the air, what side you want it to fall on. Or like poetry! There are some beautifully written horoscopes out there, and sometimes when I’m writing poetry, I feel like I’m evoking the same effect. I check my Co-Star almost every day.
Writing the astrological poem series made me realize that I might actually have a book on my hands. I finished the series for this book, though I actually started it with “self-portrait in gemini” for a class assignment. I wrote that poem while reading Aisha Sasha John’s book I have to live, so I think there’s a lot of her influence in that poem. When I wrote the astrological poems, I thought about the people I knew who had those signs and read about each sign’s meaning. For example, I asked my friend Ciarán “What do you think makes you an Aries?” and they said, “a constant sense of forward motion,” so I tried to give that feeling to the poem.
My favourite stanza in your whole book is:
when i was little i thought hurricanes were hungry / & they needed me to live / & um i still do
Do you have a favourite line in your collection? Favourite stanza? Favourite poem?
Thank you! I’m really glad that you liked that one.
One of my favourite lines is “a greenhouse is a lighthouse! for anything that breathes!” That line makes me feel free. As for stanzas, I like “the hunger strike lasted for a day. / guess i’m irresistible.” I like how it works as an opening stanza. Then, when it comes to poems, “self-portrait in aries” was one of the hardest to write, so I really appreciate the poem now. It went through so much change.
Why did you choose “venus in cancer” as the first poem? Why did you choose “self-portrait in gemini” as the last poem?
“venus in cancer” is my miracle baby. It’s probably my favourite poem in the book, and it was weirdly the easiest to write. It just appeared on the page line-by-line, which very rarely happens for me. And my Venus is in cancer. I cry when I kiss. “self-portrait in gemini” got published in The Fiddlehead in 2019. It was the first publication that made me feel like I could really make a career out of writing. It was also the first self-portrait and the first astrological poem I wrote, so it felt significant enough to end off the collection. Gemini is a really significant sign for me. I’m a gemini. So is my father. So was my first real love; we even have birthdays one day apart.
Why do you write poetry?
I’ve always written poetry. It’s a bit compulsive. Sometimes I use it as a break from writing fiction. When I don’t have the energy for plot and character, poetry comes more naturally.
What is your poetic process like? Has it changed since you wrote this book?
I write every day, even if it’s only one line. Most of my poems’ speakers aren’t me exactly. They’re more characters that I play, even if they’re characters that I really relate to. Since writing this book, I’ve become less afraid to completely gut a poem and start again from its early stages.
What do you hope readers take away from this collection? How do you hope they feel when they’re finished reading?
I want this collection to feel energizing. I want people to come away from the book feeling like they could reenact half the images in “laika of cop-killing.” I want them to take away a sense of hope, understanding, and empathy. I want them to want to write! When I read a collection I love, I often pause to do my own writing. I hope my readers do that too.
What part of this collection are you most proud of?
I think this collection is quite personal to me. There’s a lot of myself revealed here. I’m a comedian, and quite a few of the poems get laughs. That makes me happy.
What are you reading these days? What are you working on lately?
Right now, I’m working on a novel as well as another collection of poems, which I’m hoping will be my thesis project at grad school if and when I go. I’m really excited about both projects.
As for reading, I’m currently reading Monument by Manahil Bandukwala and a Rilke collection. For the most part, I’ve been reading physical copies of poetry books while audiobooking my fiction picks. I just finished the audiobook of The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill – what a gem.
What else should we know about you?
You can find me on Instagram and Twitter at @goblinpuck and online at sophiecrocker.com, where I have more contact information. Email me there if you want to work together! I’m also a performing artist! Find my improv team at @theboubakikicollective on Instagram.
Jaclyn Desforges is the author of a picture book, Why Are You So Quiet? (Annick Press, 2020), and a Danger Flower (Palimpsest Press, 2022). Jaclyn is a Pushcart-nominated writer and the winner of the 2018 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices award, the 2019 Hamilton Public Library Freda Waldon Award for Fiction, the 2019 Judy Marsales Real Estate Ltd. Award for Poetry, and a 2020 Hamilton Emerging Artist Award for Writing. Her first chapbook, Hello Nice Man, was published by Anstruther Press in 2019. Jaclyn’s writing has been featured in Room Magazine, THIS Magazine, The Puritan, The Fiddlehead, Contemporary Verse 2, Minola Review and others. Jaclyn is currently writing a collection of short fiction with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts. She is an MFA candidate in the University of British Columbia’s creative writing program and lives in Hamilton with her partner and daughter.
Follow Jaclyn on Twitter @jaclyndesforges and on Instagram @jaclyndesforges